INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Leprosy

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what bilateral aid his Department is giving to tackle leprosy; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: DFID provides targeted project support to tackle leprosy through the Leprosy Mission in India and the Leprosy Relief Association in Brazil. This funding supports community based efforts to improve access to care, reduce stigma and rehabilitate those affected. DFID commitment to these projects for 2005–6 is £196,453. Similar projects with other non-government organisations have recently ended in Brazil and Nepal. Overall DFID commitment from 2002 to 2008 is £1,152,453.
	Global elimination of leprosy also requires integrating leprosy services into general health services and building the ability of general health workers to treat leprosy. DFID provides substantial support to strengthen health services in developing countries.

Mongolia

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development How much his Department has given in aid to Mongolia in each of the last three years.

Gareth Thomas: The UK bilateral programme in 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004–05 was £395,000, £267,000 and £231,000 respectively. The attributed UK share of EC expenditure from 2001 to 2003 was £400,000, £200,000 and £200,000 respectively.
	Bilateral expenditure in 2005–06 was £200,000. This was accounted for entirely by the Small Grants Scheme. During 2005–06, it was agreed that responsibility for this scheme globally would be transferred to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The formal DFID bilateral programme in Mongolia is therefore coming to an end.

Middle East

Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development What recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank.

Hilary Benn: The humanitarian situation in the West Bank is currently relatively stable. Conditions in the Gaza Strip have worsened recently due to the closure of the main crossing at Kami. During the week of 20 March 2006 in the Gaza Strip there were severe shortages of essential foodstuffs.
	Following the Palestinian elections, the political situation in the Palestinian territories is uncertain. Assistance to the next government will be judged against the Quartet principles of non-violence, recognition of Israel, and commitment to the peace process. However, programmes aimed at meeting Palestinians' basic needs will continue, including assistance for Palestinian refugees, which in 2005–06 amounted to £15 million.

World Relief Fund

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made in establishing a world fund to provide rapid aid and relief at times of major disasters.

Hilary Benn: The United Nations' Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) was launched on 9 March 2006. This consists of a $50 million loan facility and a rant facility with an eventual target of up to $450 million. $255 million has been pledged by 38 donors so far. The UK is the largest single donor at $70 million (£40 million).
	The first disbursement from the CERF of $950,000 has been made to protect Internally Displaced People in Cote D'lvoire. A disbursement for famine relief in the Horn of Africa is expected soon.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment he has made of agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: Growth in agricultural productivity has been disappointing in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), agricultural output barely kept pace with population between 1961 and 2001, increasing from 40 to 116 million tonnes.
	DFID believe that agriculture should be at the heart of efforts to reduce poverty. In December 2005, DFID launched a policy paper entitled 'Growth and poverty reduction: the role of agriculture', which sets out our priorities for action. Copies of this document have been placed in the Library of the House.

Horn of Africa (Famine)

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development If he will make a statement on donor response to the famine in the Horn of Africa.

Hilary Benn: DFID has been the second largest bilateral donor, after the US, to the current relief effort in the Horn of Africa with a contribution so far of £35.9 million. The European Union is also making a major contribution. Other leading donors include Norway and Sweden. So far the overall donor response has fallen short of levels of funding requested by the UN. We will be reviewing our own funding next week when the UN issues an updated and revised appeal. We hope that other donors will follow our lead.

World Water Day

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what activity his Department participated in to mark this year's World Water Day.

Hilary Benn: DFID and DEFRA participated in the World Water Forum in Mexico, which focused on achieving the MDGs through local actions. Themes discussed included the impact of climate change, corruption in the water sector, the right to water and the advantages of Sector Wide Approaches. I highlighted the importance of better coordination of UN Agencies working with water, with UN-Water as the mechanism for achieving this.
	In the UK, DFID supported an awareness event in Bristol involving pupils from Teyfant Community School. Information such as a World Water Day Factsheet, was made available on our website for the general public, and an exhibition on 'drawing water' was held in DFID buildings, following the UNESCO theme for the day of 'Water and Culture'.

Bangladesh/Pakistan

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many official holidays staff at the Department's offices in (a) Bangladesh and (b) Pakistan receive per annum.

Gareth Thomas: In line with all DFID overseas offices, staff in Bangladesh and Pakistan receive 14 official holidays per annum. For 2006, they are as follows:
	
		Bangladesh
		
			  
		
		
			 1 January New Years Day 
			 11–12 January Eid-ul-Azha 
			 21 February Shaheed Day 
			 26 March Independence Day 
			 13 April Bengali New Year Day 
			 16 April Easter Sunday 
			 11 May Bouddha Purnima 
			 27 August August Bank Holiday 
			 2 October Durga Puja 
			 25–26 October Eid-ul-Fitur 
			 25 December Christmas Day 
			 26 December Boxing Day 
		
	
	
		Pakistan
		
			  
		
		
			 2 January New Years Day 
			 11–12 January Eid Ul Azha 
			 9 February 10th Muharram 
			 14 April Good Friday 
			 17 April Easter Monday 
			 1 May May Day 
			 29 May Privilege Day for HM the Queen's Birthday 
			 14 August Pakistan Independence Day 
			 19–20 October Eid Ul Fitr (precise dates dependent on the sighting of the moon) 
			 22 December Privilege Day 
			 25 December Christmas Day 
			 26 December Boxing Day

Capita Group

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have held with directors and senior executives of (i) Capita Group plc and (ii) its subsidiaries since 1 January 2004; and whether (A) Capita Group plc and (B) its subsidiaries have provided input (1) in writing and (2) in person to policy discussions in his Department since 1 January 2004.

Hilary Benn: Neither myself nor my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development have held meetings or had written communication with directors or senior executives of Capita Group or its subsidiaries since 1 January 2004.

Child Soldiers

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department is providing for programmes to reduce the number of child soldiers.

Gareth Thomas: The UK strongly supports UN Security Council Resolution 1612, condemning the use of child soldiers and backing Kofi Annan's action plan to reduce their number. DFID supports programmes in this area, in conjunction with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), both from DFID resources and from Her Majesty's Government Global and African Conflict Prevention Pools.
	For example, in the last year DFID has provided:
	(a) Ongoing support to NGO network monitoring and reporting on children affected by armed conflict across the world, both as child soldiers and as non-combatants.
	(b) Support to UNICEF HQ to build capacity and improve country programmes addressing children affected by armed conflict.
	(c) Across Central Africa: support to the Multi-Country Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme, a World Bank initiative funded by 11 donors including the UK, addressing the challenges of demobilisation and reintegration of members of national armies and armed groups in the greater Great Lakes region (covering Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC_, Burundi, Rwanda, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo and Uganda).
	(d) In Uganda: support to war affected children and youth (including former child soldiers) in the northern areas through a variety of regional and international organisations.
	(e) In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): support to UNICEF in a disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration (DDR) programme for children associated with armed groups.
	(f) In Sudan: support to UNICEF in child soldier DDR and the return, reunification and reintegration of vulnerable children; support to a Preparatory Support Programme for DDR in Sudan, which will include a major focus on children associated with fighting forces.
	(g) In Liberia: support to UNICEF for a programme on Education and Reintegration for Children Associated with the Fighting Forces, plus support to a broad-based Liberia Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Programme, which will include child soldiers.
	(h) In Rwanda: support to Save the Children in studying how to improve conditions for girl soldiers undergoing DDR.
	(i) In Sri Lanka: support to the UNICEF Children Affected by Armed Conflict programme and a complimentary Save the Children programme. UNICEF and Save the Children are working together to help prevent recruitment of child soldiers, to encourage forces to release children to their families and to reintegrate former Child soldiers into the community.
	(j) As the recruitment of child soldiers depends heavily on the availability of small arms and light weapons, being light and easy to use, DFID also works closely with the FCO and MoD to reduce the number of small arms and light weapons in circulation, particularly in Africa.

Commission for Africa

Ann Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the future programme of the Commission for Africa.

Hilary Benn: The Commission for Africa (CFA) ceased to exist after it launched its report in March 2005, although its website (www.commissionforafrica.org) has been established as a permanent resource for those interested in development and Africa.
	The Commission's report set the tone for the unprecedented international attention that Africa received during 2005, not least the G8 summit. At Gleneagles, G8 leaders took up many of the Commission's recommendations and agreed a detailed set of commitments to tackle poverty covering areas including peace and security, good governance, human development and growth. To mark the first anniversary of the launch of the CFA report on 11 March 2006, the Government published a detailed report on the UK's contribution to taking forward the Commission's recommendations and to ensuring that the G8 deliver on their Gleneagles' commitments. This report, entitled Implementation of the Commission for Africa recommendations and G8 Gleneagles' commitments on poverty": The UK's contribution', was deposited in the Libraries of the House on 9 March, and was also sent to all Members of Parliament.

Departmental Staff

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many and what proportion of (a) staff and (b) new staff employed in (i) his Department and (ii) each of the agencies for which he has responsibility, were registered as disabled in each of the last three years for which data are available.

Gareth Thomas: The numbers of staff and new staff in DFID who have declared a disability in each of the last three years is as follows:
	
		Number of staff declaring a disability as at 1 April in each year
		
			  Number Percentage of total 
		
		
			 2003 23 1.4 
			 2004 36 2.0 
			 2005 42 2.2 
		
	
	
		Number of new staff declaring a disability in each financial year
		
			  Number Percentage of total 
		
		
			 2002–03 4 2.4 
			 2003–04 4 2.0 
			 2004–05 3 2.4 
		
	
	The Cabinet Office also collects and publishes data from all departments on the numbers of staff who have declared a disability. The latest available information, for April 2004, is available in the Libraries of the House and on the Civil Service website at the following addresses:
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/publications/xls/disability apr04
	4novQ4.xls
	for data relating to 1 April 2004, and
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/archive/index.asp
	for previous reporting periods.
	The figures published in these returns are rounded, and do not include data on the number of staff and new staff in DFID who have declared a disability.

Lesotho

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effect of the Government of Lesotho's achievement of international debt repayment on funding of internal health and education programmes.

Gareth Thomas: In June 2005, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conducted a debt sustainability analysis (DSA) and concluded that Lesotho's debt levels were sustainable. This means it does not classify as a heavily indebted poor country (HIPC). Its annual interest payments on international debt in the financial year 2005–06 were 86.7 million Maloti roughly £8.2 million. Expenditure on health in that year was 390.3 million Maloti (approximately £37.2 million) and education 1128.6 million Maloti (approximately £107.5).
	Interest payments on international debt were 1.8 per cent. of total Government expenditure, spending on health was 8.2 per cent. of Government expenditure and spending on education was 26.3 per cent. of Government expenditure.
	The cancellation of Lesotho's international debt would not therefore, have significantly changed Lesotho's ability to fund health and education programmes.

Lesotho

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will take steps to cancel the debt owed to the UK by the Government of Lesotho.

Gareth Thomas: The UK cancelled all eligible bilateral aid loans to Lesotho in 1979 under the Retrospective Terms Adjustment programme. Only one loan remains outstanding to the UK, with £329,000 due as the UK's share of a loan made with other, then European Economic Countries (EEC) member states through the World Bank. The UK is in the process of agreeing debt relief treatment on this loan with the other creditors.
	Lesotho does not have any outstanding debt to CDC (formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation), but does have £1.66 million of outstanding debts to the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD). These cannot be cancelled by the ECGD outside of an international agreement by the Paris Club of Government creditors without full compensation to the ECGD by DFID. This would involve re-allocation of DFID's budget at the expense of other poor countries.
	Lesotho is not a heavily indebted poor country (HIPC), and so is not eligible for the exceptional debt relief offered under the HIPC initiative. However, the UK is committed to ensuring debt relief for all low-income countries that can use the resources effectively for poverty reduction. DFID is currently providing assistance to the Government of Lesotho to strengthen its financial management systems. Once the country's public expenditure management systems are sufficiently robust to meet the entry criteria, the UK will begin paying 10 per cent. of Lesotho's debt service payments to the World Bank and African Development Bank under our multilateral debt relief initiative.

Somalia

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral aid and assistance the UK Government have provided for the current drought and famine in Somalia; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: DFID has provided the following bilateral aid:
	£3.5 million to the World Food Programme's Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (£1 million in December 2005 and £2.5 million in February 2006);
	£500,000 has been contributed to UNICEF's drought response;
	£1 million to OCHA's Humanitarian Response Fund (HRF), a flexible mechanism to improve the speed and appropriateness of emergency relief, NGOs can apply to the HRF for rapid funding of smaller emergency projects;
	£1.5 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC) humanitarian programmes in Somalia; and
	£500,000 (approximately) being emergency medical and nutritional work of existing programmes in the drought affected areas.
	On multilateral aid—most of the funding provided through UN agencies is earmarked to specific activities and is therefore included in the bilateral assistance above. The UK share of the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) expenditure is 17.25 per cent. Current ECHO expenditure in Somalia in response to the drought is €1,358,233. The UK share is therefore €237,689, or £164,020.96. The UK also contributes to other multilateral organisations, some of which may have contributed in response to the drought—for example the African Development bank has said it will provide $500,000 to the World Food Programme (WFP) for its operations in Somalia. However as these agencies will not report expenditure incurred in 2006 until the end of 2007, it is not possible to calculate an imputed UK share at this stage.
	The UN issued a revised appeal for Somalia on 21 March for humanitarian operations for 1.7 million people that the UN judges are in need of urgent assistance. Of these it is estimated that 915,000 are experiencing a humanitarian emergency in the drought affected parts of southern and central Somalia. The revised appeal raises the amount requested for humanitarian operations from $174 million to $327 million; just over half of this is for food aid. Current contributions and commitments amount to $95.3 million. The UK is the second largest bilateral donor after the US.

Somalia

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development for which multilateral institutions working in Somalia the Government provides funding.

Hilary Benn: The majority of DFID funding is provided to three multilateral institutions, the UN system, the World Bank, and through the UK's contribution to the EC, which includes the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO). Support to the UN includes to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) for its Rule of Law Programme, the World Food Programme, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and UN International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for drought related activities, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) programme, UN-HABITAT for urban development work and to the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for education work.
	With the World Bank, DFID is for example, supporting the joint needs assessment work they are co-leading with the UNDP to prepare a five-year reconstruction and development programme and a Community Development Programme. We also provide core funding to the African Development Bank that is providing support to the drought in the Horn of Africa.

Somalia

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the political and security situation in Somalia for the purposes of taking decisions on aid.

Hilary Benn: The political and security situation in much of south and central Somalia makes the provision of aid very difficult. Our assessments are led by the impact of:
	competition for food, pasture and water that are made scarce by drought;
	political conflict in the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs);
	conflict for relief supplies and the contracts to provide them; and
	inter-clan/faction conflict such as that in Mogadishu.
	To minimise the risks, DFID works closely with other donors to support UN-led activity. Somaliland and Puntland are better governed and more secure, making delivery of assistance easier.
	However, the establishment of the Transitional Federal Institutions provides the best opportunity for bringing lasting peace and governance to Somalia. The recent convening of the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP) in Baidoa, is a positive step forward after almost a year of political division. Parliament is the only institution which can give legitimacy to the transitional process and, as the most inclusive body of the TFIs, it needs to begin to operate. The parliamentary session in Baidoa marks the start of the resumption of the process of restoring central governance to Somalia. The international community agrees that supporting it is a priority, and we, with other donors, are providing funds for this.
	The recent outbreak of heavy fighting in Mogadishu threatens the wider reconciliation process. I hope that those involved will stop the conflict and reach a settlement. Such fighting, together with the drought, currently worst affecting the south, demonstrates again why Somalia so badly needs a new government to bring stabilityA; and restore human rights and dignity to the people. DFID has responded to the drought with contributions totalling £7 million since December 2005; and our wider programme to help rebuild Somalia's destroyed social and governance sectors, and those in Somaliland, continues. This includes support to the restoration of public safety and security in Somalia, focusing on the re-establishment of policing, with £600,000 this year through the United Nations Development Programme. We also support the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in developing the National Security and Stabilisation Plan requested by the UN Security Council.

Somalia

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his assessment is of the extent to which political instability in Somalia has contributed to the current humanitarian situation.

Hilary Benn: The immediate cause of the current crisis in Somalia is an unusually severe drought. However, Somalia has been without a recognised central Government since 1992, and has seen repeated political conflict. This has certainly contributed to the severity of the current crisis.
	An effective central authority could:
	target resources to the worst affected communities;
	help ensure the provision of basic services; and
	could contribute to the safety and security of relief operations.
	A government could also play a key role in co-ordinating development efforts in the country to reduce the impact of natural disasters.
	The UK is helping to end the political instability by assisting with the establishment of the transitional federal institutions. The Transitional Parliament is currently meeting in Baidoa. Although there are considerable risks, as demonstrated by the continuing fighting in the capital Mogadishu, we believe this is the best opportunity yet for moving Somalia forward.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Efficiency Targets

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Solicitor-General how much of the agreed efficiency target for the Law Officers' Departments set out in the 2004 Spending Review is to be cashable; and under what budget headings these cashable efficiency savings will be re-spent.

Mike O'Brien: The table shows how much of the respective efficiency targets for the Law Officers' Departments is cashable.
	
		
			 Department £ million 
			  2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 
			  Target Cashable Target Cashable Target Cashable 
		
		
			 Crown Prosecution Service 20.1 14.6 26.6 17.2 34.1 20.3 
			 Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office 0.73 0.73 1.46 1.46 2.17 2.17 
			 Serious Fraud Office 1.13 0 2.0 0 2.815 0 
			 Treasury Solicitor's Department(1) 0.3 0.2 0.6 0.4 1.5(2) 1.22 
		
	
	(1) Includes the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.
	(2) Of which £0.6 million relates to a reduction in capital expenditure which will not be re-spent.
	The Law Officers' Departments will re-invest the cashable savings in the following activities.
	
		
			 Department Re-investment 
		
		
			 Crown Prosecution Service Frontline activities such as Charging and meeting new workload pressures on frontline staff, IT system Compass, and case management system. 
			 Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office Frontline activity such as in-house advocacy, case management and other workload pressures on prosecuting. 
			 Treasury Solicitors Department Increasing demand for services which are not rechargeable to clients.

TRANSPORT

Aircraft Noise

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department plans to introduce limits on maximum allowable peak aircraft noise levels.

Derek Twigg: The Secretary of State uses his powers under section 78 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 to set departure noise limits on aircraft taking off from the designated airports, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. At other airports noise management is the responsibility of the airport operator and in many cases, local planning conditions or other local agreements apply.
	All civil aircraft operating in the UK must comply with relevant international noise certification requirements. The certification procedure requires determination of EPNL (Effective Perceived Noise Level) at three reference points; approach, lateral (sideline) and flyover and sets appropriate maxima. The requirements are incorporated into UK legislation by Statutory Instruments, such as The Air Navigation (Environmental Standards) Order 2002, SI 2002 No.798.

Concessionary Travel

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of local authorities that will be providing funding for the bus fare concessionary scheme of (i) up to £9,999, (ii) £10,000 to £19,999, (iii) £20,000 to £29,999, (iv) £30,000 to £39,999, (v) £40,000 to £49,999, (vi) £50,000 to £74,999, (vii) £75,000 to £99,999, (viii) £100,000 to £149,999, (ix) £150,000 to £199,999, (x) £200,000 to £299,999 and (xi) £300,000 and above.

Stephen Ladyman: None. The Government are providing local authorities an extra £350 million for 2006–07 through the formula grant system. The general consensus is that this will be sufficient in aggregate to fund the additional cost. It is up to each authority to reach agreement with their local operator on the level of reimbursement for carrying concessionary passengers taking account of local network conditions.

Concessionary Travel

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the (a) technical, (b) logistical and (c) economic implications in areas where the concessionary travel scheme has been extended to allow cross-boundary travel.

Stephen Ladyman: None. We are introducing a national scheme in April 2008 which will allow older and disabled people free off-peak bus travel anywhere in England. In the interim, we are keen for local authorities to work together to provide cross-boundary or countywide schemes.

Concessionary Travel

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which local authorities in North West England have entered into reciprocal agreements to allow pensioners free travel across district and county borders.

Stephen Ladyman: All schemes must meet the statutory minimum entitlement by 1 April 2006. The Department does not yet have full details of the discretionary enhancements that will be offered by local authorities. We will carry out a comprehensive survey of concessionary fares schemes later in the year.

Concessionary Travel

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which local authorities in Lancashire have not entered into reciprocal agreements to allow pensioners free travel across Lancashire.

Stephen Ladyman: All schemes must meet the statutory minimum entitlement by 1 April 2006. The Department does not yet have full details of the discretionary enhancements that will be offered by local authorities. We will carry out a comprehensive survey of concessionary fares schemes later in the year.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been paid by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to Jodie Kidd for the recent advertising campaign on paying road tax via the internet.

Stephen Ladyman: The contract with Ms Kidd is a matter that is confidential between both parties.

Highways Agency Network

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many kilometres of lanes have been added to the Highways Agency network in each year since 1997; and what the cost per kilometre was in (a) cash and (b) real terms.

Stephen Ladyman: holding answer 28 March 2006
	The following table lists additional lane kilometres to the Highways Agency network, provided by publicly funded major schemes in each year since 1997, against their cost per kilometre in cash and real terms.
	
		
			   £ million 
			  Lane km added to HA network Cost per km in cash terms Cost per km in real terms 
		
		
			 1997–98 433 1.8 3 
			 1998–99 107 3.8 6.5 
			 1999–2000 38 5.9 10.2 
			 2000–01 117 1.8 2.7 
			 2001–02 0 0 0 
			 2002–03 224 0.9 1.2 
			 2003–04 450 2 2.7 
			 2004–05 191 1.2 1.6 
			 2005–06 89 2.6 3.3

M18

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the subsidence between junctions 6 and7 of the M18 will be eliminated from the road surface.

Stephen Ladyman: Following a recent study of the subsidence and cracking of the carriageway between Junctions 6 and 7 of the M18, a scheme is being developed to address this in the 2007–2008 financial year; subject to the availability of funding. In the meantime, the Highways Agency will continue to monitor and maintain the motorway in a safe condition.

M4

Martin Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the timetable is for the draw down of funding for planned improvements to the M4 motorway in Reading West constituency.

Stephen Ladyman: A scheme for improvements on and around Junction 11 of the M4, promoted jointly by Reading borough council and Wokingham borough council, has been provisionally approved for Local Transport Plan funding. We have received advice from the South East Regional Transport Board on its priorities for funding major transport schemes within its indicative allocation. The Board has given a high priority to this scheme, and recommends it receives funding for construction from 2008–09 onwards. We are currently considering this advice, and expect to set out decisions on the way forward later in the spring.
	The Highways Agency is also studying potential measures to improve traffic flows and journey time reliability on the M4, including the section that passes through the Reading West constituency. Any improvement works that emerge from those studies will be considered for entry into the Targeted Programme of Improvements.

M62

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the likely cost of policing and enforcing the proposed car-share lane on the M62.

Stephen Ladyman: The West Yorkshire police have confirmed that they see the monitoring and enforcement of the high occupancy vehicle lane on the M62 as an extension of their existing role of policing the motorway network, and that they do not envisage additional costs.

Oil Spill Contingency Plans

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many UK ports have an oil spill contingency plan; and how many of those plans were updated in the last five years.

Stephen Ladyman: holding answer 27 March 2006
	Currently there are 176 port and harbour oil spill contingency plans in the UK. It should be noted that in some circumstances an individual plan may be for more than one port or harbour. 63 of these plans have been updated in the last 5 years in order to obtain re-approval under the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation Convention) Regulations 1998.
	Each OPRC oil spill contingency plan should be fully reviewed within five years of its submission to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). It must then be approved by the MCA so as to be valid for up to a further five years. Where any major change occurs which could effect the validity or effectiveness of a contingency plan a new plan must also be submitted for approval.

Programme Improvement Schemes (Cost Study)

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on work being conducted by EC Harris for the Highways Agency to study inflation costs and predict future figures and costs for targeted programme improvement schemes; when he expects this work to conclude; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the final report.

Stephen Ladyman: EC Harris have provided an initial report on inflation in highway prices in September 2005, together with an update of the inflation figures quoted in that report in January 2006. Copies of the reports have been placed in the Library. EC Harris have been asked to provide further updates at quarterly intervals. In addition; the agency has asked other industry sources for advice on inflation pressures. Once analysed, the agency will take a view on what inflationary allowances should be allowed in their cost estimates. This work will be kept under regular review.

Red Diesel

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much red diesel has been used at airports in each of the last five years (a) in total and (b) broken down by airport.

Derek Twigg: The Department does not hold this information. It may be available from the airports themselves.

Road Building

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many motorway and trunk road building projects there were between 1988 and 1997; and what the total cost was in (a) cash and (b) real terms.

Stephen Ladyman: holding answer 28 March 2006
	There were 280 major improvement schemes completed between April 1987 and December 1996. The total main works tender cost of these schemes was approximately £5.1 billion, which at today's prices using the RCTPI (Road Construction Tender Price Index) in the latest financial quarter available for 2005, is £8.6 billion.

Road Improvement Costs

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Tom Brake) of 19 December 2005, Official Report, columns 2318–2319W on road improvement costs, whether the figures for the most recent estimate or final cost of each scheme represents the amounts paid to the scheme contractors in each case; and whether the Highways Agency is liable for additional costs in each case.

Stephen Ladyman: The latest agreed budget costs for projects, in the Government's Targeted Programme of Improvements, represent the current approved estimate of the full outturn cost. The budget cost estimates include an element for construction, alongside other costs, which will be paid in due course to the scheme contractor. Those estimates are routinely reviewed and may be subject to change as schemes progress.

Roads (Hard Shoulders)

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what factors are preventing hard shoulder running being introduced on the M42 before March 2007.

Stephen Ladyman: The Highways Agency will commence hard shoulder running on the M42 at the earliest opportunity and is on schedule to deliver by March 2007.
	Hard shoulder running is one of the later phases of operation in the M42 Active Traffic Management Pilot and is dependent upon the introduction of new equipment, procedures, trained operators and an assessment it is safe to do. Time is also required for monitoring of preceding phases. This monitoring will be used to verify the pilot's safety plan and help evaluate effectiveness of a number of new technologies and different traffic management measures on tackling congestion.
	Introducing these changes in phases also gives drivers the opportunity to become accustomed to the signs and signals and safely use the scheme prior to introducing the use of the hard shoulder.

South East England Regional Assembly

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the South East England Regional Assembly's recommendations on regional transport priorities.

Stephen Ladyman: The advice from the South East region on regional funding allocations-including recommendations on regional transport priorities-was sent to the Government in January. The advice can be found on the Department's website at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_localtrans/documents/page/dft_localtrans_611223.hcsp

Taxis/Taxi-Buses

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to promote the use of taxi-buses.

Stephen Ladyman: holding answer 27 March 2006
	Section 12 of the Transport Act 1985 allows a taxi owner to apply to the Traffic Commissioner for a bus operator licence. The taxi owner can then register a route with the Traffic Commissioner and provide a local bus service, interspersed with periods of conventional taxi operation.
	The Department has published and distributed a guide to Flexible Transport Services" which sets out the benefits of taxi-bus services and other flexible services. It includes advice on setting up a taxi-bus service. A copy is on the Department's website.

Taxis/Taxi-Buses

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how many (a) hackney carriage and (b) private hire drivers have been (i) stopped and (ii) suspended in each year since 1997 (A) in total and (B) broken down by local authority area;
	(2)  how many (a) hackney carriage and (b) private hire vehicles have been found to be defective since 1997; and how many in each case were impounded in each year since 1997 (i) in total and (ii) broken down by local authority area.

Stephen Ladyman: This information is not collected centrally. Local licensing authorities (district/borough councils or unitary authorities) carry out the taxi and private hire vehicle licensing function and are responsible for enforcement in their respective areas.

Traffic Lights

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the Government's policy is on the use of part-time traffic light signals.

Stephen Ladyman: holding answer 27 March 2006
	Current advice on part-time traffic light signals is that they are chiefly applicable to roundabouts during peak traffic flow periods, to prevent queues from building back on another road, often a motorway.

Transport Statistics

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average (a) number and (b) distance of trips as calculated by the National Travel Survey was by (i) car driver, (ii) car passenger, (iii) bus, (iv) walking and (v) other modes of transport for the purposes of (A) commuting, (B) business, (C) education, (D) escort education, (E) shopping and (F) other reasons, broken down by (1) sex and (2) those (v) under 17 years, (w) 17 to 29 years, (x) 30 to 49 years, (y) 50 to 59 years and (z) over 60 years in the latest two-year period for which survey results are available.

Stephen Ladyman: The information for 2003–04 has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Unregistered Mini-Motorcycles

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to take steps (a) to ban unregistered mini-motorcycles from public roads and (b) to provide safe areas for their off-road use.

Stephen Ladyman: It is already illegal to use unregistered mini-motorcycles on public roads. Enforcement is a matter for individual Chief Officers of Police.
	I understand that the provision of safe off-road areas for these bikes is being considered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Department for Trade and Industry, together with motorcycling organisations. Some off-road facilities already exist. Further, DEFRA has just issued a circular giving guidance on the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on rights of way and off-road in the countryside.

Visual Flight Rules

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to publish the regulatory impact assessment on the introduction of mode S transponders for visual flight rules operations.

Derek Twigg: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has drafted a partial Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA). Subject to clearance from the Prime Minister's Panel for Regulatory Accountability, the CAA expects to release the partial RIA for public consultation in spring this year.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Bacup Shoe Company

Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action his Department is taking through its Paris office to facilitate the release of the consignment of shoes for the Bacup Shoe Company of Rossendale, which has been impounded by French customs

Ian Pearson: holding answer 28 March 2006
	The British Consulate-General in Lille has established that the French judicial authorities intend to carry out a full investigation into this consignment. I have written to my hon. Friend and will place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.

EU Hazardous Substances Directive

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with the EU Commission on exempting electronically motored pipe organs from the EU Directives on restrictions on hazardous substances and waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 28 March 2006
	The Department of Trade and Industry continues to work closely with the European Commission on the RoHS and WEEE Directives.
	The repair and refurbishment of existing pipe organs (both now and in the future) will not be affected; neither will pipe organs that are not reliant on electricity to function. A total exemption for the manufacture of new pipe organs from the substances restrictions of the RoHS Directive would require a formal application by the industry to the European Commission (under Article 5.1 b). The Department has offered to work with the industry to help them develop such a case.

EU Hazardous Substances Directive

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what representations the UK Government made regarding pipe organs in relation to the EU Directive on Restrictions on Hazardous Substances; and what assessment he has made of the likely effects of the Directive on pipe organs;
	(2)  whether a regulatory impact assessment was conducted in relation to the effect of the EU Directive on Restrictions on Hazardous Substances on (a) organ makers, (b) organ users and (c) churches; and if he will make a statement.

Malcolm Wicks: The repair and refurbishment of existing Pipe organs (both now and in the future) will not be affected by the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive; neither will pipe organs that are not reliant on electricity to function.
	A total exemption for the manufacture of new pipe organs from the substances restrictions of the RoHS Directive would require a formal application to the European Commission under Article 5.1(b). The Department has offered to work with the industry to help them develop such a case.
	A Full Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) on the RoHS Directive was published in September 2005.

EU Hazardous Substances Directive

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the (a) repair and (b) building of new lead organ pipes is included as a prohibited activity under the Directive 2002/95/EC due to be enforced from 1 July 2006.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 27 March 2006
	No. The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive applies restrictions on the presence of such substances in end products or equipment. It does not place any restrictions on the repair or manufacture of component parts.

EU Hazardous Substances Directive

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will take steps to seek exemption for lead organ pipes from the proposed EU directive which would prevent their use.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 27 March 2006
	The repair and refurbishment of existing pipe organs (both now and in the future) will not be affected by the restriction of hazardous substances directive; neither will pipe organs that are not reliant on electricity to function.
	A total exemption for the manufacture of new pipe organs from the substances restrictions of the RoHS directive would require a formal application to the European Commission making a case under article 5.1b. The Department has offered to work with the industry to help them develop such a case.

EU Hazardous Substances Directive

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  how many EU member states have exempted organ pipes under EU Directives 2002 95/EC and 2002 96/EC;
	(2)  what exemptions are being considered under EU Directives (a) 2002 95/EC and (b) 2002 96/EC;
	(3)  when exemptions under the EU Directives (a) 2002 95/EC and (b) 2002 96/EC will be announced.

Malcolm Wicks: No EU member state has exempted pipe organs from the scope of either Directive. There are over 50 exemption requests for specific applications of the restricted substances from the requirements of the RoHS Directive currently under consideration. Details of these are available on the European Commission's website http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/waste/weee_index.htm. We are dependent on the Commission's timetable for decisions on these.

EU Hazardous Substances Directive

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Church Commissioners and (b) organ pipe manufacturers on EU Directives 2002 95/EC and 2002 96/EC.

Malcolm Wicks: None, but my officials have had discussions with representatives from the pipe organ industry.

EU Hazardous Substances Directive

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people are employed in the manufacture, installation and maintenance of organ pipes in the UK.

Malcolm Wicks: Industry estimates for the number of people employed in the sector in the UK are around 300 to 400 people.

EU Hazardous Substances Directive

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of organs in (a) chapels, (b) churches, (c) cathedrals, (d) cinemas, (e) town halls and (f) places of public entertainment which will be affected by EU directives (i) 2002 95/EC and (ii) 2002 96/EC;
	(2)  whether the (a) manufacture, (b) installation and (c) replacement of organ pipes will be exempted under EU directives (i) 2002 95/EC and (ii) 2002 96/EC.

Malcolm Wicks: The repair and refurbishment of existing pipe organs (both now and in the future) will not be affected; neither will pipe organs that are not reliant on electricity to function.
	A total exemption for the manufacture of new pipe organs from the substances restrictions of the RoHS directive would require a formal application to the European Commission (under article 5.1b). The Department has offered to work with the industry to help them develop such a case.

G8 Meeting (Moscow)

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what matters in respect of nuclear reprocessing are on the agenda for the meeting of G8 energy ministers in Moscow on 16 March; and if he will (a) place in the Library and (b) post on his Department's website the papers distributed for the Moscow meeting.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 28 March 2006
	There were no matters in respect of nuclear reprocessing on the agenda of the meeting of the G8 energy ministers in Moscow on 16 March. The meeting concentrated on discussing issues relating to global energy security, promoting efficient markets and enhancing sustainability.
	There were no papers distributed to participants of the meeting. The Chair's summary of the meeting can be found at http://www.minprom.gov.ru/G8/eng/news/10

India

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) Ministers, (b) regional development agencies and (c) trade delegations fromthe UK have visited India in each of the last three years.

Ian Pearson: The following Table sets out the number of visits to India by Ministers, RDAs and the number of outward trade missions from the UK for the period 2003–05. In addition to the visits listed, HRH Prince Charles visited India in 2003, and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister visited India in 2005.
	The figure for the number of visits made by RDAs includes all of those visits of which we are aware. However, we do not hold a comprehensive list of visits by RDAs, as they are not obliged to supply this information.
	
		
			  Ministerial visits Visits by RDAs Outward trade missions 
		
		
			 2003 4 12 32 
			 2004 7 13 38 
			 2005 5 12 30

Low Carbon Buildings Programme

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the budget will be for domestic installations under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme in (a) 2006–07, (b) 2007–08 and (c) 2008–09; and on what date the Low Carbon Buildings Programme will be launched.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 28 March 2006
	Under the original £30 million budget allocation and following an informal consultation with industry the amounts that will be available for domestic household installations are:
	£3 million
	£2.5 million
	£l million.
	On 23 March The Budget 2006 announced an additional £50 million for the Programme. The Department will be considering urgently with Treasury colleagues how this money should be allocated.
	The new Programme will be launched on 3 April 2006. Information will be available at:
	www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk.

Natural Environment Research Council

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what the original Natural Environment Research Council capital budget was for the Environment Centre built at Lancaster university; and whether this changed during its construction;
	(2)  what the original budget for the Natural Environment Research Council's share of the annual running costs for the Lancaster Environment Centre was; and what its share has been in each year since its opening;
	(3)  what the capital value is of the Natural Environment Research Council Merlewood site; and whether there are plans for it to be sold;
	(4)  what the running costs for the Merlewood Centre for Ecology and Hydrology site were in each of the last three years;
	(5)  what estimate he has made of the cost of operating the Merlewood Centre for Ecology and Hydrology site over the next five years.

Barry Gardiner: The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) is wholly owned by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). NERC's science budget allocation has doubled since 1997 to £334 million for this year. Following consultation on proposals to put CEH on a sustainable scientific and financial footing for the future, NERC Council announced on 13 March that it will proceed with the restructuring with various modifications reflecting issues raised in stakeholders' input.
	I have asked the chief executive of NERC to write to the hon. Member about his specific requests for information on budgets and costs related to Lancaster Environment Centre and Merlewood.

Office for Civil Nuclear Security

Peter Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of the current complement of staff at the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) have a first degree or further qualification in (a) nuclear physics and (b) nuclear engineering; and what qualifications the OCNS (i) Director and (ii) Deputy Director holds.

Barry Gardiner: The current complement of staff at the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) is 42, including the administrative and security vetting teams. None of them holds first degrees or further qualifications in nuclear physics or nuclear engineering. The release of the information requested in respect of the qualifications of the Director and Deputy Director of OCNS would or would be likely to contravene the first Data Protection Principle.
	As a security organisation, OCNS requires its staff to have a wide range of knowledge and expertise in all areas of security, including physical, information and personnel security. Knowledge of nuclear physics and nuclear engineering is desirable, but not essential. Where such knowledge is necessary, the advice of the relevant agencies is sought, in particular from the Nuclear Industries Inspectorate of the Health and Safety Executive, with whom OCNS maintain a close working relationship at all levels.

Operating and Financial Reviews

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions his Department held with other departments regarding the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 28 November 2005 of the decision not to proceed with a mandatory requirement for operating and financial reviews.

Alun Michael: Discussions took place between my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Chancellor in order to determine the best way forward and there was agreement by relevant departments on the decision announced by the Chancellor on 28 November 2006.

Post Offices

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices and sub post offices there were in Haltemprice and Howden constituency in each year between 1997 and 2006.

Barry Gardiner: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd (POL). Alan Cook, the Managing Director, has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Post Offices

Andrew Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish the accounts of the Crown Post Office in Marvina Drive, Ellesmere Port for the last five years.

Barry Gardiner: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. Alan Cook, the Managing Director has been asked to reply directly to the hon. Member.

Postal Market Liberalisation

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the timetable for full liberalisation of the postal market.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 28 March 2006
	The timetable for market liberalisation is a matter for Postcomm the postal regulator. Their decision was to fully open the UK postal market in January 2006. Further information can be found on their website http://www.psc.gov.uk/

Postal Market Liberalisation

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry with which other European Union member states he has discussed the liberalisation of postal markets across the European Union; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 28 March 2006
	DTI Ministers and their officials maintain ongoing dialogue with both the institutions of the European Union and the other member states.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Direct Consultancy Support

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria will be used to assess the suitability of local authority applications for direct consultancy support in the next two financial years.

Ben Bradshaw: The focus of this year's programme of DCS is specialist support in waste planning; strategy; procurement; and waste composition analysis.
	Support for projects will be based on the following criteria:
	Evidence of need
	Whether the authority facing performance issues that would benefit from direct support and whether they can demonstrate the added value of such support.
	Impact of support
	Whether the project assist the authority in overcoming the particular barriers and deliver demonstrable change. Evidence for this would be percentage increase in BVPIs or tonnage diversion from landfill.
	Local authority commitment
	Whether the authority is providing some matching resources. Defra is keen to derive the maximum value from support funding, but it is essential that authorities identify they have the resources to project manage a proposal.
	Working together
	This year it is a requirement that county and all its constituent district councils submit proposals as one. Defra is keen to support projects that encourage joint working. Defra will hope to disseminate any project results to a wider audience and supported authorities will be encouraged to positively promote their solutions to neighbouring authorities.

Direct Consultancy Support

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many local authorities have applied for direct consultancy support in (a) 2006–07 and (b) 2007–08; and what the type of authority is in each case.

Ben Bradshaw: The initial deadline for applications to the Direct Consultancy Support Programme is 31 March for projects that need to get off the ground immediately, and the final deadline for projects in 2006–07 is October 31 2006. Some of these proposals may extend into both the 2006–07 and 2007–08 financial years.
	At present we have received 11 (as yet unprocessed) proposals but given that it is usual for applications to arrive towards the end of the application window this is not of concern. Six proposals are led by Unitaries, four by Waste Disposal Authorities (on behalf of their county) and one by a Waste Collection Authority (on behalf of the rest of its county).

Fungaflor

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when she expects the product Fungaflor to be approved for sale in the United Kingdom;
	(2)  what discussions she has had with the Pesticide Safety Directorate in the last 12 months on the sale of the product Fungaflor in the United Kingdom; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: The Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) withdrew the UK national approval for Fungaflor (containing the active substance imazalil) in December 2002, with two years allowed for use up of stocks already in the supply chain. This was in accordance with the requirements of an EC directive concerning the inclusion of imazalil on Annex I of Directive 91/414/EEC.
	An application for approval of a new Fungaflor product in accordance with the requirements of Directive 91/414/EEC was subsequently made. However, this application did not contain sufficient information to allow PSD to complete a risk assessment demonstrating an acceptable risk to humans and the environment and it was therefore refused. No further applications have been made.
	The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has had no discussions with PSD in the last 12 months on the sale of the product Fungaflor in the United Kingdom.

Landfill

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department's latest estimate is of the total amount of landfill capacity available in England.

Ben Bradshaw: In 1999, the Environment Agency published Strategic Waste Management Assessment Reports covering the nine planning regions of England. These indicated that an estimated remaining capacity of all licensed landfill sites in excess of 27 billion cubic metres.
	The Environment Agency is currently assessing void capacity of landfills in England at 2004–05. Their findings will be published later this year.

Mobile Telephones

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of used mobile telephones were recycled in the last year for which figures are available.

Ben Bradshaw: This Department does not collect recycling or reused information on mobile phones.

Organ Pipes

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many organpipes have been disposed of on landfill sites since 2002.

Ben Bradshaw: No data are available on the information requested. However, I would expect recyclable organ pipes would be sent to scrap metal facilities rather than to landfill.

Recycling

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what total amount of waste was recycled in England in 2005; and what percentage this was of the total waste generated during the period.

Ben Bradshaw: The latest available data for England estimate that 80 million tonnes of waste was either recycled or reused in 2002–03. This amounts to 43 per cent. of total waste produced by households, commerce and industry (including construction and demolition). Other sector waste including waste from mines and quarries, sewage sludge, dredged materials and agriculture have been excluded.

Recycling

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many recycling points there are per 1,000 population in (a) the constituency of Lancaster and Wyre, (b) Lancashire and (c) England.

Ben Bradshaw: Requested figures, based on the 2003–04 Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey and 2003 mid-year population estimates are as follows:
	
		
			  Recycling points per 1,000 population 
		
		
			 Lancaster City Council 0.21 
			 Wyre Borough Council 0.41 
			 Lancashire(3) 0.24 
			 England 0.41 
		
	
	(3) Lancashire includes the two postal Lancashire Unitary authorities of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool.
	Notes:
	Recycling points are civic amenity and recycling sites within the area.
	Data at constituency level are not available.

River Pollution

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures she is taking to prevent endocrine disrupting chemicals from entering the river system.

Elliot Morley: There are a range of chemicals that may have endocrine disrupting effects, and these can come from a variety of sources. Many chemicals considered to be endocrine disrupters (EDCs) have been subject to bans or other regulations for some time, such as the pesticide dieldrin. Measures have already been taken on antifouling paints based on tributyltin (TBT) compounds that were found to cause endocrine disrupting effects in some marine organisms.
	More generally, where particular chemicals have been strongly implicated as EDCs, the UK has proposed that these should be subject to a full risk assessment under European Regulations, so that where risks are identified European-wide measures are taken to control them. Endocrine disrupting chemicals will also be considered for authorisation under the new REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) regulations.
	My Department has also invested in research and development to improve our understanding of the risks to the environment of endocrine disrupting chemicals from other sources. In addition, an Endocrine Disruptor Demonstration Programme is soon to commence aimed at testing the effectiveness of various measures to remove EDCs from the effluent of sewage treatment works and informing future regulatory decisions.

River Pollution

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what studies her Department has commissioned into the effects on fish of endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Elliot Morley: My Department has commissioned extensive research to improve our understanding of the possible effects on fish caused by exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals.
	For the freshwater environment, we have made a considerable contribution to collaborative investigations into the potential impacts of sewage effluents on two common lowland fish species, roach and gudgeon. A further study, part of the EDIT (Endocrine Disruption in Invertebrates and Top Predators) Programme, costing around 0.5million in total, has been conducted on the top predator, pike. A new collaborative research programme (EDCAT-Endocrine Disruption in Catchments) has recently been commissioned to look into possible impacts of endocrine disrupting sewage discharges on roach and sticklebacks at the population level; EDCAT will cost around £1.4 million in its initial phase alone.
	We have established specific programmes of research on endocrine disruption in the marine environment, including the £1.5 million EDMAR (Endocrine Disruption in the Marine Environment) Programme, which conducted studies on flounder, goby, blenny and migratory trout and salmon. Additional research has focused on cod.
	Work is now being conducted to develop an understanding of the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals upon sensitive stages in the development of fish and to establish international test protocols for screening new chemicals for endocrine disrupting effects using the stickleback. The latter forms part of the Endocrine Disruption in Aquatic Ecosystems (EDAQ) Programme, costing over £1 million.
	Two studies on fish also form part of the core projects of the UK-Japan research collaboration agreement on endocrine disruption in aquatic systems.
	Further information on completed Defra endocrine disruption research projects is available from the Defra website at:
	http://www2.defra.gov.uk/research/project_data/Default.asp

DEFENCE

Apache Helicopters

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 2 March 2006, Official Report, columns 868–9W, on Apache helicopters, what were the reasons for the four-year delay in reaching the full complement of trained Apache helicopter pilots.

Adam Ingram: The fact that the full complement of Apache Attack Helicopter (AH) pilots will not be achieved by the target date of July 2006 is due to a combination of factors. The main reason was a shortfall of qualified helicopter instructors (QHIs). This has been an enduring issue that has had a marked impact on the quantity of pilots being trained for front line operational units. The original assumption (based on our experience of Lynx and Gazelle training, and advice from subject matter experts) was that a single instructor could train two AH students. However, once training began it became apparent that this assumption was unworkable and the training effort had to be switched in order to generate more instructors. This effectively reduced the pilot delivery rate to the field army. The plan to generate more instructors was further undermined when six QHIs elected to leave the Army shortly after the expiry of their four year time bar. Given that it takes up to 11 months to train an AH instructor, as opposed to six months to convert a pilot, the output of AH qualified pilots has remained lower than planned. Other factors, such as aircraft availability and weather, have exacerbated the situation.

Armed Forces Pension Scheme

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of members of the armed forces pension scheme joined the scheme (a) before the age of (i) 20, (ii) 25, (iii) 30, (iv) 35, (v) 40 and (vi) 45 and (b) when they were over 45 years.

Don Touhig: Service personnel do not actually elect to join the Armed Forces Pension Scheme; membership is automatic for all from age 18, for non-commissioned ranks, and age 21, for officers, or upon joining the service, whichever is the later.
	Eligible widows/widowers of service personnel receive benefits under the scheme from the day following the date of death. Eligible children of deceased service personnel normally receive benefits until age 17, or until full-time education has ceased.

Iraq

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel from the 2003 invasion of Iraq on Operation Telic have since developed symptoms similar to those experienced by personnel from Operation Granby.

Don Touhig: Information on all the illnesses reported by service personnel who have served on Operation Telic is not held centrally. Although the medical records of individuals who have left the services are held by each service at individual central locations, the records of personnel who are still serving are normally held at their unit medical centre.
	As a result of the lessons learned during the 1990–91 Gulf conflict, the MOD put in place a large scale and longer-term epidemiological research plan to monitor the physical and psychological health of personnel who served in Operation Telic. If any unusual patterns of illness are found, they will be addressed as soon as possible. This research is being undertaken by King's College, London and is subject to independent oversight. The results are expected to be published this summer.

Nuclear Deterrent

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone) of 2 March 2006, Official Report, column 873W, on the nuclear deterrent, when he expects the preparatory work on possible options for the future of the UK's nuclear deterrent to be completed; how many personnel are involved; and at what annual cost.

John Reid: It is too early to say how long it might take to complete the preparatory work in advance of decisions on the future of the UK's nuclear deterrent. It remains the case that decisions are likely to be taken in the course of the current Parliament but, as I said during Defence Questions on 23 January 2006, Official Report, column 1153, I am unlikely to receive papers on this for some time.
	As I said during Defence Questions on 14 November 2005, Official Report, column 692, there are five people within my Department working full time on policy relating to the future of the UK deterrent. A number of other personnel are working part or full time on other aspects of this issue, but it is not possible to give a precise figure for the number of people involved in the process.
	On costs, I have nothing to add to the answer I gave previously to the hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis) on 14 June 2006, Official Report, columns 333–34.

Privatised Companies

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he has taken to ensure that those functions of his Department and its associated public bodies which he plans to privatise are not undertaken by companies based in countries whose interests conflict with those of the UK.

Adam Ingram: Proposals to vary the future ownership arrangements for any part of the Ministry of Defence, or associated bodies, are fully assessed against wider national and foreign policy interests.

SA80 Rifle

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will issue the SA80 assault rifle to C130 crews for self-defence purposes; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: Royal Air Force Air Transport and Air Refuelling Squadrons have the flexibility to decide which weapons their crews should carry. RAF C130 aircrew operating in the most hostile environments have been carrying the SA80 weapon for many years.

Territorial Army

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what are the terms of the holiday time and pay of Territorial Army personnel on (a) a three month operational deployment and (b) a six month deployment;
	(2)  what the average pay is for Territorial Army (a) privates, (b) NCOs and (c) officers on deployment.

Don Touhig: Members of the Territorial Army are paid the same daily rate of pay as regular soldiers throughout their period of mobilisation, according to their rank, trade and length of service. Any difference between the pay of reservists while mobilized and their normal Civilian earnings is paid by the Ministry of Defence up to a limit of £200,000 per annum. Reservists can also claim for additional expenses they incur as a result of being mobilised—for example additional costs of childcare or care of a dependant relative.
	The information requested relating to the average pay for Territorial Army (a) privates, (b) NCOs and (c) officers on deployment is not held centrally and can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
	Following three months of mobilised service in an operational theatre, an individual will be entitled to 19 days leave (eight days annual leave and 11 days Post Operational Tour Leave (POTL)). Following six months of mobilised service in an operational theatre, an individual will be entitled to 36 days leave (15 days annual leave and 21 days POTL).

Territorial Army

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the new terms and conditions of service for the Territorial Army.

Don Touhig: Terms of service for Territorial Army officers will be amended with effect from 1 April to allow for a common retirement age of 60, thus standardising previously disparate practice and removing the need for officers below the age of 60 to apply each year for an extension to service.

Territorial Army

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many (a) Territorial Army recruits have been enlisted and (b) Territorial Army personnel have qualified to become deployable in each of the last five years, excluding the Officer Training Corps;
	(2)  how many Territorial Army (TA) recruits have been enlisted in each of the last six months; and how many TA personnel have left.

Don Touhig: Figures on the number of recruits are only available for the past two years. 5,710 recruits enlisted into the Territorial Army in 2004 and 6,430 in 2005. The number of recruits who have qualified to be deployable is not held centrally but the trained strength in each of the past five years is shown in the following table. All trained personnel may be deployed providing they are medically fit and have not been deployed within the timescales outlined in the Reserve Forces Act 1996.
	
		
			 As at April each year Number 
		
		
			 2001 29,520 
			 2002 27,800 
			 2003 26,730 
			 2004 25,630 
			 2005 24,310 
		
	
	The number of personnel enlisted and leaving in each of the past six months is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Inflow Outflow 
		
		
			 August 2005 550 720 
			 September 2005 470 720 
			 October 2005 590 460 
			 November 2005 770 540 
			 December 2005 370 270 
			 January 2006 510 660 
		
	
	Note:
	These figures exclude Full Time Reserve Service, Non Regular Permanent Staff and Officer Training Corps. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10, and numbers ending in 5 to the nearest 20 to avoid systematic bias. The inflow figures include all inflow except personnel returning from mobilization. The outflow figures include all outflow except those who are mobilizing. Recruit is deemed to be anybody joining the strength of the TA.

Territorial Army

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many residents of Northern Ireland are serving in the Territorial Army.

Don Touhig: As at 28 February 2006 the strength of the Territorial Army (TA) in Northern Ireland was 1,560, including the Queen's University Officer Training Corps (QUOTC) which is a Type B TA unit. The strength excluding the QUOTC was 1,339.

Territorial Army

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future of the Territorial Army barracks in Chorley.

Don Touhig: I am pleased to observe that, as a result of Territorial Army (TA) Rebalancing, there will be an increased TA presence at the TA Centre in Chorley. The current medical detachment will become C Medical Squadron of 5 General Support Medical Regiment, increasing by up to 110 personnel. Additionally, a new detachment of 55 Military Intelligence Company of 5 Military Intelligence Battalion will be established there resulting in a further increase of about 18 personnel. It is currently planned that these changes will be fully implemented by late 2006.

Veterans

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2006 to question 59698, on veterans, if he will place in the Library the minutes of the (a) Veterans' Executive Steering Group meeting on (i) 11 October 2005 and (ii) 17 January 2006 and (b) the Veterans' Forum on 6 December 2005.

Don Touhig: holding answer 27 March 2006
	I have arranged for copies of the minutes of these meetings to be placed in the Library of the House.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

2012 Olympics

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 21 March 2006, Official Report, column 201W, on the 2012 Olympics, what analysis has been undertaken of (a) the nature of the contamination and (b) the (i) type and (ii) concentrations of pollutants; what involvement local authorities have had under Part IIA of the 1990 Environment Protection Act 1985; and what soil guideline values have been used.

Richard Caborn: Site investigations are currently being carried out to characterise the nature of the ground conditions and the level of contamination. These investigations will be carried out in accordance with current industry best practice to identify the exact type and concentrations. The investigations are following the principles set out in the Intrusive Investigation Method Statement approved by the London boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest, the Environment Agency and British Waterways. I am arranging to have copies of the statement placed in the Libraries of the House.
	The London Development Agency has been informed by the London boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest that there are no part IIA designated contaminated sites within the Olympic Park boundary. The boroughs have been consulted throughout the preparation of the environmental impact assessment, during the site investigation phase and will continue to be consulted throughout the development of the remediation and validation works.
	Generic site specific soil target values have been generated and are detailed in a Global Remediation Strategy which has been reviewed and approved by the same regulators noted above. Once the site investigation is complete, detailed remediation strategies, including generation of site specific clean up targets, will be prepared and agreed with the regulators as appropriate prior to implementation and validation. All of the sites to be remediated will be subject to detailed planning applications.

2012 Olympics

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the decontamination process to contaminated land on the London 2012 Olympic Site will (a) delay building work and (b) increase the costs; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: A time allowance for land remediation has been built into the overall project timetable, as has a budget to cover such work. There is no reason at present to expect the cost of such work to exceed the budget.

Casinos

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many of the applications for casino licences under the Gambling Act 1968 in the last 10 years were made under a D2 leisure planning re-classification.

Richard Caborn: This information is not collected centrally.

Casinos

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for East Devon (Mr. Swire) on 20 March 2006, Official Report, columns 14–15W, on gambling, if she will break down the number of applications by location.

Richard Caborn: Further to the answer to the hon. Member for East Devon (Mr. Swire) 20 March 2006, Official Report, columns 14–15W, the table sets out the locations of the applications for certificates of consent in respect of new casinos and substituted, extended or altered premises that were received by the Gambling Commission from 1997–98 until the present.
	Two minor adjustments have been made to the figures given in the previous answer. The Gambling Commission has revised downwards the figure for applications for certificates of consent for new casinos in 2000–01 from 7 to 6. The total number of applications for new casinos in 2004–05 was 23, not 25, and the number of applications for substitute, extended or altered premises in 2004–05 was 6, not 4.
	
		
			  New Casinos Substitute/extended/ altered premises 
		
		
			 1997–98 Nottingham Birkenhead 
			  Salford Glasgow 
			   Leeds 
			   London (4) 
			   Newcastle 
			   Southend 
			
			 1998–99 Birmingham Birmingham 
			  Blackpool Hull 
			  Hull Lytham St. Annes 
			  Liverpool Margate 
			  Luton Teesside 
			  Northampton  
			  Southend  
			  Walsall  
			
			 2000–01 Birmingham Great Yarmouth 
			  Liverpool Hull 
			  London London 
			  Manchester Manchester (2) 
			  Teesside Plymouth 
			  West Bromwich  
			
			 2001–02 Bristol Huddersfield 
			  Leicester (2) Portsmouth 
			  Southampton Sunderland 
			  Stockport  
			
			 2002–03 Blackpool (2) Birmingham 
			  Bradford Cardiff (2) 
			  Newcastle Glasgow 
			  Northampton Northampton 
			  Stockport  
			  Stoke  
			  Swansea  
			  Warley  
			  Wolverhampton  
			
			 2003–04 Aberdeen Bradford 
			  Birmingham Manchester 
			  Bolton Ramsgate 
			  Bristol  
			  Glasgow  
			  Newcastle  
			  Nottingham (2)  
			  Scarborough  
			  Swansea  
			  Walsall  
			  Wolverhampton  
			
			 2004–05 Aberdeen Brighton 
			  Birmingham Liverpool 
			  Blackpool Manchester 
			  Bradford Portsmouth 
			  Bristol Southend 
			  Coventry Swansea 
			  Derby  
			  Dudley  
			  Dundee  
			  Hull  
			  Leeds (2)  
			  Leicester  
			  Liverpool  
			  London (2)  
			  Reading  
			  Sheffield  
			  Southend  
			  Swansea  
			  Teesside (2)  
			  Warley  
			
			 2005–06 (to end Aberdeen (2) Aberdeen 
			 February 2006) Birkenhead London (3) 
			  Birmingham (2) Nottingham 
			  Blackpool Reading 
			  Brighton (2) Southampton 
			  Bristol Stoke 
			  Cardiff (2)  
			  Coventry  
			  Edinburgh (3)  
			  Glasgow (2)  
			  Great Yarmouth  
			  Leeds(3)  
			  Leicester  
			  Liverpool (3)  
			  London (11)  
			  Luton  
			  Margate  
			  Manchester  
			  Middlesbrough  
			  Newcastle (2)  
			  Northampton  
			  Nottingham  
			  Reading  
			  Sheffield  
			  Walsall

Dance

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action her Department is taking to promote and invest in dance; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: DCMS sponsors Arts Council England to promote and invest in the arts, including dance. Since 2002–03 there has been an increase in Government funding for dance of 22.4 per cent.
	In 2006–07 the Arts Council will invest £33 million in dance. This funding will support dance companies and organisations across the country to deliver and promote dance. The Arts Council provides a further £26 million for combined dance and other art, organisations and projects.

Departmental Staff

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many and what proportion of (a) staff and (b) new staff employed in (i) her Department and (ii) each of the agencies for which she has responsibility were registered as disabled in each of the last three years for which data is available.

David Lammy: The Cabinet Office collects and publishes annually statistical information on the Civil Service by Department. These include data on the number of staff in departments who have declared a disability. Declaration of a disability is voluntary.
	The latest available information at April 2004 is available in the Library and on the Civil Service website and the following addresses. http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/publications/xls/disability_apr04_4nov04.xls for data relating to 1 April 2004, and http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/archive/index.asp for previous reporting periods.
	The number of new staff employed in each of these years was fewer than five and is protected from disclosure under the DCMS Code of Practice on equal opportunities monitoring.

Diana Memorial Fountain

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions her Department had with (a) the Health and Safety Executive and (b) the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents regarding the safety rules at the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain prior to its opening in July 2004.

David Lammy: On 12 September 2002, the Health and Safety Executive was notified of the project on their standard form F10: Notification of Project, as required under the CDM Regulations 1994. There was no further discussion with the HSE prior to opening, and it is not normal practice to do so. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) was consulted in December 2002 about the memorials design, and in June 2004 was asked to advise on any further safety measures that should be taken before the memorial was opened to the public. RoSPA's recommendations were implemented.

Diana Memorial Fountain

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department made of the safety rules at the Diana, Princess of WalesMemorial Fountain prior to its opening in July 2004.

David Lammy: Before the memorial opened The Royal Parks Agency commissioned an independent operational risk assessment and implemented its findings. It also consulted The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) which advised that, because of the unusual nature of the site, safety measures would need to be closely monitored during the first months of operation until patterns of visitor behaviour became clear. When a persistent problem was identified, The Royal Parks acted swiftly to close the Memorial while designers, engineers and health and safety experts revised the management of the site.

Diana Memorial Fountain

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate her Department made of the likely visitor numbers to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain prior to its opening in July 2004.

David Lammy: The Department estimated that there would be one million visitors to the memorial in its first year after opening, and between 500,000 and one million in subsequent years.

Digitisation Plan

Mark Fisher: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to implement the Dynamic Action Plan for the EU Coordination of Digitisation of Cultural and Scientific Content.

David Lammy: The Government value the importance of digitisation—it is an important means of increasing access to cultural and scientific resources and making them available online in a form that is easy to find and interesting to use.
	The National Representatives Group for the EU Co-ordination of National Digitisation Policies (NRG) will be responsible for implementing the Dynamic Action Plan within the EU. Activities carried out by the NRG already include identifying and comparing digitisation practices, setting technical standards across Europe and developing best-practice guidelines. During the Austrian Presidency of the EU, the NRG will launch five groups, each taking responsibility for one area of the Dynamic Action Plan.

Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme in her Department joined the scheme before the age of (a) 20, (b) 25, (c) 30, (d) 35, (e) 40, (f) 45 and (g) over 45-years-old.

David Lammy: The information requested on the ages at which the Department for Culture, Media and Sport employees' joined the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Superannuation Liability

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what total amount of employers' normal contributions accruing superannuation liability charge has been accounted for by her Department in each of the last five years for which data are available.

David Lammy: The amount of employers' accruing superannuation liability charges in respect of members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme is published annually in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Resource Accounts in the note on staff costs. Copies are placed in the Libraries of the House.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Access to Work Scheme

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost was of assessing entitlement to support under the Access to Work scheme in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Anne McGuire: Jobcentre Plus does not collect discrete statistics on the cost of assessments. Some Access to Work customers do not require an assessment, while others are assessed by the most appropriate person. This could be an external expert in the particular disability or an adviser at a Regional Access to Work Business Centre.

Benefit Claims

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in what circumstances a relative may claim benefits on behalf of an elderly dependent member of the family who does not live locally.

James Plaskitt: A relative who is the formal representative, such as an attorney or a Secretary of State appointee, may claim on behalf of a family member in all circumstances.
	A relative who has not been formally authorised as a representative may still make a claim on behalf of an elderly family member. The relative can complete a claim form in writing or, in the case of pension credit or state pension, supply the necessary information by telephone. However, in the case of an informal representative, the elderly family member must still sign the claim form both to affirm that the information given is correct and complete and to validate the form as their claim to benefit.
	When the Pensions Transformation Project completes its roll out, an informal representative may make a claim on behalf of a family member without a signature being required. In addition to confirming that the family member has given consent for a claim to be made on their behalf, the representative will be asked further questions for verification and security purposes.

Benefits (Administration Costs)

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the administration costs were for (a) incapacity benefit, (b) disability living allowance, (c) industrial injuries disablement benefits and (d) jobseeker's allowance in each of the last three years.

James Plaskitt: The Department accounts for its administrative expenditure by strategic objective as set out in its public service agreements (PSA) and by individual requests for resources (RfRs) as set out in the departmental estimates and accounts, and not by benefit. Information on administrative expenditure by strategic objective is available in the annually published departmental report, copies of which are available in the Library.

Benefits (Medical Assessments)

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many medical assessments took place to assess entitlement for (a) incapacity benefit, (b) disability living allowance and (c) industrial injuries disablement benefit in each of the last three years; and at what total cost.

Anne McGuire: The information is in the table.
	
		Number of medical assessments carried out(4)
		
			  April to March 
			  2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Incapacity benefit 1,722,675 1,627,630 1,549,630 
			 Disability living allowance 437,862 414,870 363,335 
			 Industrial injuries disablement benefit 115,119 97,112 85,949 
			 Annual cost excl. VAT (£ million) 63.5 60.7 53.7 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures include examinations and advice that took place to assess entitlement for incapacity benefit, disability living allowance and disability living allowance.
	Source:
	Medical Services MI

Cold Weather Payments

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have received cold weather payments so far in 2006 (a) in total and (b) broken down by parliamentary constituency.

James Plaskitt: The total number of people who have received cold weather payments so far in the winter of 2005–06 in Great Britain is estimated to be 650,000. A breakdown by parliamentary constituency is not available.
	Notes:
	1. This figure is rounded to the nearest 1,000.
	2. If the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0°C or below over seven consecutive days at a weather station, then a cold weather payment is triggered" for all eligible customers whose postcode is linked to that weather station.
	3. The number of people who are estimated to have qualified because the weather station linked to their postcode has triggered was obtained from the benefit systems at the end of October 2005. It excludes people on income support and income-based jobseeker's allowance who qualified because they had a disabled child aged five or over and who received support for that child via child tax credit.

Cold Weather Payments

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the locations of weather stations from which information is collected to assess entitlement to cold weather payments.

James Plaskitt: The weather stations used to collect information in order to assess entitlement to cold weather payments are:
	Aberporth
	Albemarle
	Andrewsfield
	Aultbea
	Aviemore
	Bedford
	Bingley
	Bishopton
	Boltshope Park
	Boscombe Down
	Boulmer
	Braemar
	Brize Norton
	Capel Curig
	Cardinham
	Carlisle
	Cassley
	Charlwood
	Chivenor
	Coleshill
	Coltishall
	Crosby
	Culdrose
	Dundrennan
	Dunkeswell Aerodrome
	Dyce
	Edinburgh Gogarbank
	Eskdalemuir
	Flyingdales
	Great Malvern
	Heathrow
	Hersmonceux West End
	High Wycombe
	Hurn (Bournemouth Airport)
	Isle of Portland
	Kinloss
	Kirkwall
	Lake Vyrnwy
	Lerwick
	Leuchars
	Linton on Ouse
	Liscombe
	Loch Glascarnoch
	Loftus
	Lusa
	Lyneham
	Machrihanish
	Manston
	Marham
	Nottingham
	Pembrey Sands
	Plymouth
	Rhyl
	St. Athan
	St. Catherine's Point
	St. Mawgan
	Salsburgh
	Scilly St. Mary's
	Sennybridge
	Shawbury
	South Farnborough
	Stornoway Airport
	Thorney Island
	Tiree
	Tulloch Bridge
	Valley
	Waddington
	Walney Island
	Wattisham
	West Freugh
	Wick Airport
	Wittering
	Woodford
	Yeovilton

Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State will reply to the letter of 31 January from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 29 March 2006
	I replied to the hon. Member on 27 March 2006.

Child Support Agency

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time is for the Child Support Agency cases to spend in (a) the pre-application stage, (b) the application stage, (c) the information-gathering stage and (d) the calculation and collection set-up stage before first payment is received for (i) cases from parents with care receiving income support or income-related jobseeker's allowance, (ii) cases from parents with care not on income support or income-related jobseeker's allowance and (iii) all cases.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member.
	Letter from Hilary Reynolds
	In reply to your Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive is currently unavailable as he is communicating the Operational Improvement Plan to all Agency staff. I am responding on his behalf.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time is for the Child Support Agency cases to spend in (a) the pre-application stage (b) the application stage (c) the information-gathering stage and (d) the calculation and collection set-up stage before first payment is received for (i) cases from parents with care receiving income support or income related jobseeker's allowance (ii) cases from parents with care not on income support or income-related jobseeker's allowance and (iii) all cases.
	The CSA does not collect data in exactly these categories but such information as is available is set out in the tables attached, together with notes describing each category.
	The Agency defines an application as having cleared the overall application process if a maintenance calculation has been carried out and a payment arrangement between the parent with care and the non resident parent is in place. Additionally, since not all Child Support Agency applications result in a calculation, an application is also defined as cleared if the case is closed, the parent with care is identified as claiming Good Cause or is subject to a Reduced Benefit Decision, or the application is identified as being a change of circumstances on an existing case as opposed to a new application.
	The time from application clearance to first payment represents the first stage of the compliance and enforcement part of the process, as by this point the onus will now be, to a large extent, on the non-resident parent to accept financial responsibility for their children and comply with the request for maintenance.
	As you will notice, many of the cases yet to clear individual stages of the process are more than a year old, a level of performance which is clearly unacceptable to our clients. In the Operational Improvement Plan announced by the Secretary of State on 9th February 2006, the Agency set itself a target of reducing the backlog of uncleared new applications to the point where, by March 2009, 80% of applications will be cleared within 12 weeks and there will be no backlog in this area.
	I hope you find this information helpful.
	
		Average time in days for new scheme new applications that have cleared various stages in the process to clear that particular stage in the process—December 2005 (scheme to date)
		
			 Application stage/intake type Mean Median 
		
		
			 1st Contact to pre-application clearance   
			 All cases 41 12 
			 JCP intake 32 13 
			 Private intake 57 9 
			
			 Pre-application clearance to calculation or other clearance   
			 All cases 125 63 
			 JCP intake 150 83 
			 Private intake 87 41 
			
			 Post calculation intake to post calculation clearance   
			 All cases 33 4 
			 JCP intake 38 4 
			 Private intake 28 4 
			
			 Post calculation clearance to first payment   
			 All cases 60 30 
			 JCP intake 55 27 
			 Private intake 64 35 
		
	
	
		Average time in days new scheme child support applications that have yet to clear a stage in the application process have spent in that particular stage—December 2005 (scheme to date)
		
			 Application stage /intake type Mean Median 
		
		
			 1st Contact to pre-application clearance   
			 All cases 404 367 
			 JCP intake 615 709 
			 Private intake 332 201 
			
			 Awaiting calculation or other clearance   
			 All cases 371 305 
			 JCP intake 382 311 
			 Private intake 342 291 
			
			 Awaiting post calculation clearance   
			 All cases 408 360 
			 JCP intake 404 350 
			 Private intake 414 381 
			
			 Awaiting first payment   
			 All cases 315 214 
			 JCP intake 309 205 
			 Private intake 323 227 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Intake type refers to the parent with care's (PWC) benefit status at the time that their application is received, and not their current benefit status nor the status at the point when the case is cleared. The PWC's benefit status may change during the course of their application being processed and these figures make no provision to take account of such changes.
	2. The pre-application stage is where a potential application is screened to establish whether it is valid. Pre-application clearance is where the case either progresses to the application stage, a reduced benefit decision (RBD) is applied, good cause is accepted, or the case is closed.
	3. A case enters application stage where it has been accepted as valid at the pre-application stage. An application clearance occurs when a calculation is carried out, a RBD is subsequently applied, good cause is subsequently accepted or the case is subsequently closed.
	4. A case enters post calculation stage where clearance at the application stage results in a calculation being carried out. Post calculation clearance is where a collection schedule is set up, an MD arrangement is set up immediately after calculation, a RBD is subsequently applied, good cause is subsequently accepted, the case is subsequently closed, or the calculation is classified as being a nil liability meaning that no further action is required.
	5. The first payment stage is the time between a collection schedule being set up and a first payment being made to the PWC, or a maintenance direct arrangement being put in place. There are an additional 2,000 cases where payment was made to the PWC prior to a schedule or maintenance direct arrangement being agreed (i.e. voluntary payments), which have been excluded from the first table.
	6. For those cases that do not result in a calculation, clearance of the overall application process can occur at any stage. Cases can also have cleared individual stages, but still be part way through the overall process. This means that, mathematically, neither the average time to clear the whole application process, nor the age of all uncleared cases can be obtained through summing the components presented in the table.
	7. These figures do not include 84,000 cases received via the Jobcentre Plus interface that are yet to be processed, and for which we do not currently have sufficient management information for them to be included in this analysis.
	8. In addition, analysis of clearance times excludes 104,000 cases received via the Jobcentre Plus interface that have been closed, or identified as a change of circumstance to an existing case (as opposed to a new application) as, again, we do not currently have sufficient management information for them to be included in this analysis.
	9. Figures are rounded to the nearest day.

Child Support Agency

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the (a) annual running costs of the Child Support Agency and (b) annual saving in benefits as a consequence of Child Support Agency maintenance payments for each year from 1996 to 2005; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested. Letter from Stephen Geraghty:
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the (a) annual running costs of the Child Support Agency and (b) annual saving in benefits as a consequence of Child Support Agency maintenance payments for each year from 1996 to 2005; and if he will make a statement.
	The table below shows the requested information as reported in the Annual Report and Accounts of the Child Support Agency.
	Details of the annual savings in benefits are unavailable before 1999–2000, since they are not explicitly stated in the Annual Report and Accounts.
	Since March 2003 Child Support applications have been dealt with under the new scheme. The new scheme introduced the Child Maintenance Premium, this is a £10 per week disregard of maintenance when calculating parent with care entitlement to Income Support. The Child Maintenance Premium was introduced to provide an incentive to parents with care to co-operate with the Agency and also to selectively target additional support to children in the poorest households. A consequence of child maintenance premium has been a reduction in the amount of maintenance collected by the Agency and paid to the Secretary of State to offset the annual cost of Income Support administered by Job Centre Plus.
	
		£ million
		
			  Annual agency running costs Annual savings in benefits Total maintenance collected 
		
		
			 2004–05 325.60 117.40 585.41 
			 2003–04 323.00 141.30 580.27 
			 2002–03 294.30 146.50 572.55 
			 2001–02 290.40 137.50 528.45 
			 2000–01 250.00 143.00 502.55 
			 1999–2000 260.30 148.00 460.68 
			 1998–99 231.20 — 392.38 
			 1997–98 225.90 — 306.16 
			 1996–97 224.50 — 213.21 
			 1995–96 199.30 — 134.45 
		
	
	Note:
	Annual saving In benefit relates to maintenance collected passed to the Secretary of State rather than the parent with care.
	The category of annual benefit savings covers only maintenance paid to parents with care in receipt of income support and jobseekers allowance. In recent years the proportion of the caseload that relates to non-benefit parents with care has increased. Failure to secure maintenance for this group of customers would result in some parents with care having to claim income related benefits.

Working Futures Programme

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will increase funding for the working futures programme.

James Plaskitt: The working future project is testing the effect that reduced rents and increased access to employment services can have on the incentives for housing benefit claimants in temporary accommodation to find work.
	The employment service element of this project is funded by the European Social Fund EQUAL programme, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, The Mayor of London, East Homes (a registered social landlord) and the London boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Newham. DWP are also supporting this project by transferring funds to ODPM to cover the cost of the central Government grant for the duration of the pilot.
	Additional funding for the employment services strand of this project is currently being considered against the eligibility criteria of the EQUAL programme.

Debt Management

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's Debt Management administration budget was for each quarter since Q2 2001, broken down by main area of expenditure.

James Plaskitt: Debt Management was established within the department in April 2001. Financial records for Debt Management as a separate entity were not available prior to April 2002. Between 2001 and 2005, responsibility for staff working on benefit Debt Management was transferred to the organisation, with ten debt centres being operational from August 2004. All overpayment work from Jobcentre Plus and The Pension Service was transferred to Debt Management by August 2005.
	The details required are in the following tables:
	
		£ million
		
			 Period April-June 2002 July-September 2002 October-December 2002 January-March 2003 
		
		
			 Staff 11.375 11.696 12.093 11.829 
			 Non-staff 1.011 1.353 1.314 1.000 
			 Total budget 12.386 13.049 13.407 12.829 
		
	
	
		£ million
		
			 Period April-June 2003 July-September 2003 October-December 2003 January-March 2004 
		
		
			 Staff 9.555 10.125 10.877 11.964 
			 Non-staff 1.606 1.864 1.864 0.367 
			 Total budget 11.161 11.989 12.741 12.331 
		
	
	
		£ million
		
			 Period April-June 2004 July-September 2004 October-December 2004 January-March 2005 
		
		
			 Staff 11.638 11.665 11.337 11.041 
			 Non-staff 1.061 1.147 1.061 1.070 
			 Total budget 12.699 12.812 12.398 12.111 
		
	
	
		£ million
		
			 Period April-June 2005 July-September 2005 October-December 2005 
		
		
			 Staff 13.022 14.261 14.091 
			 Non-staff 2.394 2.421 3.876 
			 Total budget 15.416 16.682 17.967 
		
	
	The increase in staff costs in 2005–06 is accounted for by the movement of work from other DWP businesses to Debt Management and the consequential staff increase.

Winter Fuel Allowance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what mechanisms are in place to reclaim overpayments of winter fuel allowance to households where more than one payment of £200 was issued.

Stephen Timms: If customers are overpaid a winter fuel payment because of official error which the Department becomes aware of, they are invited to repay it, but no further action is taken if they do not. If they are overpaid because they gave us incorrect information it is departmental policy to recover the overpayment.

Pensioner Incomes

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) average and (b) total income of the poorest 10 per cent. of pensioners has been in each of the last 30 years at today's prices.

Stephen Timms: Information that is available is in the following table, based on the Family Resources Survey introduced in 1994–95.
	
		
			  Median income of the bottom decile of pensioners in £ per week Aggregate gross weekly income of the bottom decile of pensioners in £ million per week 
			  Pensioner couples Single pensioners Pensioner couples Single pensioners 
		
		
			 1994–95 143 77 37 34 
			 1995–96 142 76 37 33 
			 1996–97 145 78 37 34 
			 1997–98 145 76 37 34 
			 1998–99 146 77 38 35 
			 1999–2000 149 81 39 37 
			 2000–01 156 85 40 37 
			 2001–02 162 83 43 37 
			 2002–03 165 89 44 38 
			 2003–04 172 88 47 38 
			 2004–05 177 92 48 40 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures are in 2004–05 prices.
	2. Deciles are based on the before housing costs net income distribution.
	3. Figures are provided for pensioner couples and single pensioners in the bottom decile of the pensioner couples and single pensioners net income distribution respectively.
	4. Pensioner couples are defined as where the head of the household is above state pension age.
	5. Gross income includes income from all sources including state benefits, private pensions and any earnings.
	Source:
	Family Resources Survey.

Post Office Card Accounts

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of each payable benefit was transacted through (a) a Post Office card account, (b) another account at a post office and (c) a bank account that is not accessed at a post office in (i) the UK, (ii) Wales, (iii) Bridgend, (iv) Ogmore constituency and (v) Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough area in the last period for which figures are available.

James Plaskitt: holding answer 2 March 2006
	The information is not available in the format requested. The available information is set out in the following table.
	The table shows the proportion of each payable DWP benefit account that was transacted through (a) a Post Office card account (b) a bank/building society account as at 24 December. Values marked —" represent figures below 50 and have been suppressed in line with standard practise to preserve accuracy.
	We are unable to distinguish between bank accounts accessed at post offices and those accessed elsewhere.
	
		Percentage
		
			  Great Britain Wales Bridgend local authority Ogmore parliamentary constituency Rhondda Cynon Taff local authority 
			  Post Office card account Bank/ building society account Post Office card account Bank/ building society account Post Office card account Bank/ building society account Post Office card account Bank/ building society account Post Office card account Bank/ building society account 
		
		
			 Attendance allowance 16.5 79.5 21.4 75.4 — — — — 30.8 65.6 
			 Bereavement benefit 6.0 93.2 9.3 88.9 — — — — — — 
			 Disability living allowance 17.7 79.3 22.4 74.7 22.3 75.2 25.4 72.1 27.7 69.2 
			 Incapacity benefit 20.4 77.0 25.5 72.8 23.8 74.8 27.4 71.3 33.5 65.1 
			 Carers allowance 21.0 77.8 25.4 73.2 — — — — — — 
			 Industrial death benefit 41.1 57.0 52.0 46.2 — — — — — — 
			 Industrial injuries death benefit 24.4 74.8 33.5 66.0 — — — — — — 
			 Income support 28.7 67.3 35.3 61.4 32.7 64.5 37.5 59.6 44.4 53.4 
			 Jobseekers allowance 16.4 76.4 17.7 76.5 16.1 80.1 — — 20.0 73.4 
			 Pensions credit 34.7 60.9 42.4 54.0 41.2 56.4 46.5 51.0 52.6 44.7 
			 Passported incapacity benefit 14.4 80.8 20.3 73.7 — — — — — — 
			 Retirement pension 19.9 78.8 29.5 69.0 29.9 69.0 39.3 59.4 42.6 56.1 
			 Severe disablement allowance 20.4 71.6 28.8 64.1 — — — — — — 
			 Widows benefit 17.0 81.3 25.6 72.6 — — — — — — 
			 Workman's compensation 33.7 61.4 — — — — — — — —

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Bangladesh and Pakistan (Official Holidays)

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many official holidays staff at the Department's offices in (a) Bangladesh and (b) Pakistan receive per annum.

Kim Howells: All locally engaged and UK-based staff at our missions in Bangladesh and Pakistan take 14 days of official/public holidays each year. These are taken on approved schedules which respectively take account of both British and local public holidays.

Belarus

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the situation in Belarus following the elections.

Douglas Alexander: The Government support the assessment of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's election monitoring mission and deeply regrets the atmosphere of intimidation and suppression in which the elections were conducted. As the European Council made clear, they were fundamentally flawed.
	We applaud those in Belarus who stood up for democracy through the elections and through peaceful protest afterwards. We deplore the unjustified action taken to prevent demonstrators and opposition leaders from exercising their right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, and support calls for the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners.
	We remain concerned about the prospect of further action being taken against the opposition and its supporters as well as the continuing suppression of civil society. We are actively discussing with our partners the specific restrictive measures that will be taken against those responsible for the violation of international democratic standards, as well as how to intensify our support for civil society and the democratic process.

Child Soldiers

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps are being taken to prevent the sale of arms to countries using child soldiers.

Kim Howells: The UK strongly supports UN Security Council (UNSC) action to address the issue of children affected by armed conflict. UNSC resolution 1612 (July 2005) urges member states, UN entities, regional and sub-regional organisations and other parties concerned to take appropriate measures to control illicit sub-regional and cross-border activities harmful to children, including illicit trade in small arms.
	Each arms export licence is assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Export Licensing Criteria and other relevant international commitments. Consideration is given to the risk that respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the final country of destination would be contravened, as well as the risks that the export would prolong armed conflicts or aggravate existing ones and the risk to regional peace, security and stability. A licence will not be issued where to do so would be inconsistent with the criteria or other relevant commitments.

China

Robert Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Chinese Government about the imprisonment and treatment of house leader Xu Shuangfu.

Ian Pearson: We are aware of the case of Xu Shuangfu and are monitoring developments. However, we have not raised his case with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China-Russia Relationship

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the relationship between China and Russia.

Ian Pearson: China and Russia continue to develop closer bilateral ties, strengthening trade links and furthering economic and energy co-operation. The two sides have also agreed how to settle border disputes and have worked together to tackle problematic issues, such as water pollution, in the region. The two countries are also moving towards greater co-operation and co-ordination on security and international issues, as shown by last year's joint military exercise.

ETA

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the ceasefire declared by ETA; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said publicly on 22 March, the Government welcome the announcement of a permanent cease-fire by ETA, which took effect on 24 March. We hope to see the commitments made in ETA's statement delivered and hope that ETA has turned its back on terrorism for good.
	All internal decisions about talks are entirely a matter for the parties on the ground. However, the Spanish government is aware of the UK's full support and that we stand ready to help in any way we can.

European Union Regulations

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much has been paid by the UK in fines for non-compliance with European Union regulations for each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: Article 228 of the treaty establishing the European Community enables the European Court of Justice to impose a lump sum or penalty payment on member states in certain circumstances. The court has only done so on four occasions, and never against the UK.

Gambia

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the political situation in Gambia; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: The Gambian government has confirmed that security forces thwarted an attempted coup by a group of army officers on the night of 21 March. Arrests have been made of several of those suspected. There appears to have been no fighting and no injuries were reported during the arrests. There has been no civil unrest and business has returned to normal.
	The political situation in Gambia remains generally tense ahead of Presidential elections in October this year and Parliamentary elections early in 2007. Following an initiative by President Obasanjo of Nigeria and the Commonwealth Secretariat, all major parties have signed up to an electoral code of conduct. The UK will assist with electoral preparations, to help ensure they are as free and credible as possible.

Iran

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the implications of the recent agreement between China and Iran on drilling rights in Yardavaran region of Iran.

Kim Howells: China and Iran have significant mutual energy interests. Iran has approximately 9 per cent. of the world's oil reserves; China imports around 13 per cent. of her oil from Iran. In October 2004, China and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding on exploiting the Yadavaran oilfield in southern Iran, which has proven crude reserves of more than 30 billion barrels. According to official Chinese media, this provides for Chinese commercial involvement in developing the field on a buyback basis, and for China to purchase from Iran 10 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year over 25 years. The details of commercial arrangements between China and Iran are a matter for those two countries.
	We co-operate closely with China on policy towards Iran. We welcome China's support for the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors resolutions, most recently on 4 February. We are presently discussing with China and other members of the United Nations Security Council next steps in regard to Iran's nuclear programme. We will continue to work closely with the Chinese authorities over the coming months.

Iran

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the treatment of members of the Baha'i faith in Iran; and what representations he has made to the Iranian Government on this matter.

Kim Howells: We continue to have serious concerns at Iran's treatment of religious minorities including the Baha'is. The Baha'i International Community report a marked deterioration in the situation of their co-religionists in Iran during the past 12 months. Baha'is have reportedly faced arbitrary detention, harassment, destruction of property and a hostile campaign in the media. On 20 March, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, Asma Jahangir, expressed concern about an alleged instruction by Iran's Supreme Leader ordering the command headquarters of the armed forces to identify Baha'is and monitor their activities.
	We have pressed the Iranian authorities to address the problems faced by the Baha'i community on many occasions, both bilaterally and through the EU. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary did so when he met Iran's Foreign Minister, Manuchehr Mottaki, in September 2005. The Austrian ambassador to Tehran did so on behalf of the EU on 31 January 2006.
	We have also taken action at the UN. All EU member states co-sponsored a resolution on human rights in Iran adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2005. This expressed serious concern at, inter alia,
	the escalation and increased frequency of discrimination and other human rights violations against the Baha'i, including cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, the denial of freedom of religion or of publicly carrying out communal affairs, the disregard of property rights, the destruction of sites of religious importance, the suspension of social, educational and community-related activities and the denial of access to higher education, employment, pensions, adequate housing and other benefits."

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the planned outcomes were of the Minister of State's recent visit to Iraq; who he met during the visit; what was discussed at the meetings; and if he will make a statement.

Kim Howells: I visited Basra on 9–11 March. During the visit I met the Governor, the Chairman of the Council, the Chief Justice, the Director General of the South Oil Company and the Chief of Police, as well as senior religious and tribal figures from the local Shia, Sunni and Christian communities. This visit worked in support of efforts to end the council's boycott of co-operation with British forces and highlighted British reconstruction efforts in the region.

Iran

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of (a) the statement from the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief on the activities of the command headquarters of the armed forces in Iran and (b) the letter from its chairman dated 29 October 2005 addressed to the Ministry of Information, the Revolutionary Guard and the police force.

Kim Howells: The UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, Asma Jahangir, said in a statement on 20 March that a confidential letter from the chairman of the command headquarters of the Iranian armed forces had been brought to her attention. According to Ms Jahangir, the letter says that Iran's Supreme Leader has instructed the command headquarters to identify persons who adhere to the Baha'i faith and to monitor their activities. In the letter the command headquarters reportedly requests that the Ministry of Intelligence, the revolutionary guard and the police force collect any and all information about members of the Baha'i faith.
	We share Ms Jahangir's concern at this letter, and hope that the Iranian authorities will clarify their policy towards the Baha'i community as a matter of urgency. There can be no justification for the Iranian authorities to monitor individuals simply because they adhere to a particular religion. The alleged letter adds to the evidence that discrimination against the Baha'i community in Iran is increasing. Reports suggest that Baha'is have been subjected to harassment, intimidation and arbitrary arrest and a hostile campaign in the media. Iran's Chambers of Commerce have also reportedly been ordered to create lists of all Baha'i businesses. In December 2005, a Baha'i, Mr. Dhaibullah Mahrami died in custody in unclear circumstances.
	Ministers and officials have pressed the Iranian authorities on many occasions to address the discrimination suffered by the Baha'i community. We expect Iran to uphold freedom of religion and belief in accordance with its international obligations under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Middle East

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what he assesses to be the British national interest in the Middle East.

Kim Howells: holding answer 28 March 2006
	On 28 March, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary launched Active Diplomacy for a Changing World", the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's new White Paper which sets out nine priorities for the UK internationally, including for the Middle East. Details are available on our website www.fco.gov.uk.

Ministerial Committee on EU Strategy

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what date the Ministerial Committee on EU Strategy was established.

Jim Murphy: I have been asked to reply.
	The European Union Strategy Committee was established in June 2003. A full list of all Cabinet Committees, including their membership and terms of reference, can be found in the Library and on the Cabinet Office website at www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/secretariats/committees/

Mujahedin-e Khalq

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organisation that have been given protected person status under the Geneva Convention at Camp Ashraf in Iraq.

Kim Howells: The status of 'protected persons' applies to persons meeting the relevant conditions set out in that Convention (article 4). The provisions of the fourth Geneva Convention apply to situations of international armed conflict. The armed conflict between Iraq and the Multi-National Forces has ended. We have therefore made no assessment of protected person status in Camp Ashraf.

Nepal

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the number of Maoist insurgents in Nepal.

Kim Howells: The nature of Maoists' clandestine organisation and operations makes it very difficult to assess how many insurgents there are in Nepal. A very approximate estimate, drawn from a number of sources, including open source material, would suggest that the core cadre of active armed insurgents is about 8,000–12,000 strong. However, we estimate that there may be up to 20,000 or 30,000 other activists who may not be armed but will be heavily involved, for instance in detonating small bombs, organising logistics, carrying out extortion. In addition to this, there are probably thousands more political supporters and sympathisers.

Palestine (H5N1)

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what multilateral action he is participating in to ensure that political conflict in Palestine will not hinder effective containment and eradication of the H5N1 virus; and if he will make a statement.

Kim Howells: On 26 March, the Israeli government announced that it had culled 1.2 million birds in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. The Israeli government has said that it will work with the Palestinians to tackle the problem. It has sent preventative medicines and information on the treatment of bird flu to the Palestinians. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has set up a Ministerial committee to help with the culling of birds in the Gaza Strip and to identify farmers that will need compensation. The World Bank are funding US $2 million of compensation for farmers, to be dispersed as soon as possible. Both the Palestinians and the Israelis are putting in place measures to contain the virus. We are not participating in any multilateral action to ensure that the conflict will not hinder its containment as every effort is being made by both sides to ensure the virus does not spread. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv and our Consulate General in Jerusalem will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Russia (Energy Supplies)

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the International Energy Agency on Russian energy supplies.

Douglas Alexander: Officials from both the Department for Trade and Industry and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have had discussions on Russian energy supplies in the course of normal International Energy Agency (IEA) committee meetings, specifically the Non Member Country Committee (NMCC). The most recent NMCC meeting to discuss Eurasian gas was on 8–9 March 2006.
	Russian energy has also been discussed at the IEA governing board. The governing board met last week, 20–24 March 2006, although Russian energy supplies were not on the agenda for the meeting.

Russia (Energy Supplies)

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received concerning Russian oil and gas supplies to the EU.

Douglas Alexander: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, myself and officials continue to receive such representations as part of our ongoing discussions with key stakeholders in energy policy, particularly in the G8 and EU contexts.
	The European Council on 23–24 March discussed energy security. The Presidency's conclusions note the importance of making the EU-Russia dialogue more effective, identifying as an important aim the ratification of the Energy Charter and the conclusion of its Transit Protocol.
	Dialogue with Russia on energy supplies is an important element of current discussions on global energy security. The most recent discussions on this were led by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry at the G8 Energy Ministerial Meeting on 15–16 March.

CABINET OFFICE

Civil Service Pensions

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what proportion of members of thePrincipal Civil Service Pension Scheme joined thescheme (a) before the age of (i) 20, (ii) 25, (iii) 30, (iv) 35, (v) 40 and (vi) 45 and (b) when they were over 45 years.

Jim Murphy: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Civil Service Pensions

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the employer contribution rate to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme are; what assumed rate of return underlies this contribution rate; and what the contribution rate would be if the assumed rate of return were in line with current redemption yields on index-linked gilts.

Jim Murphy: Employer contribution rates in respect of members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme are assessed for each of four ranges of pay levels. A separate rate is payable in respect of a group of prison officers who have certain reserved rights. The rates for the years 2005–06 are shown in the table.
	
		
			  Salary band Rate of employer contribution (percentage) 
		
		
			 £18,000 and under 16.2 
			 £18,001 to £37,000 18.6 
			 £37,001 to £63,500 22.3 
			 £63,501 and over 24.6 
			 Prison officers with reserved rights 25.6 
		
	
	Contribution rates are based on an assumed discount rate (rate of return) of 3.5 per cent. per annum in excess of price increases.
	Information on the contribution rates that would apply if the assumed rate of return was in line with the current redemption yield on index-linked gilts can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Council Tax (Official Residences)

Eric Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will place in the Library a copy of the revised guidance from the Cabinet Secretary to Ministers on payment of council tax on official residences.

Jim Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 12 January 2006, Official Report, column 782W, which made clear that for the future, arrangements have been put in place to ensure that Ministers who are allocated official residences are given clear guidance on dealing with their council tax liability. This guidance will be activated when there is a change of occupancy in any of the official residences.

Departmental Furniture

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much has been spent by the Cabinet Office on acquiring furniture in each year since 1997.

Jim Murphy: The available information on the cost of furniture for the Cabinet Office are shown in the table. Figures incorporate the central London estate, National School for Government in Sunningdale, Emergency Planning College in York and the Office of Public Service Information in Norwich. Figures prior to 2002–03 are not available.
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 2002–03 96,849 
			 2003–04 316,076 
			 2004–05 249,710

Ministerial Role

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister without Portfolio what proportion of his car costs are met by the Labour Party.

Ian McCartney: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 14 March 2006, Official Report, column 2106W.
	Costs for transport provided to me in my role as Party Chairman are a matter for the Labour Party.

Ministerial Role

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister without Portfolio what role he plays as an interface between the Government and the Labour Party in respect of party funding issues.

Ian McCartney: The Department of Constitutional Affairs is responsible for Government Policy on Party Funding issues.

Ministerial Role

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister without Portfolio what office space is made available to him; where it is located; and what support he is provided with in terms of officials allocated to him.

Ian McCartney: As a Government Minister I have use of an office located within the Cabinet Office. I am supported by a small Private Office. Details of special advisers are as in the statement my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister made to Parliament on 21 July 2005, Official Report, column 158WS.

Ministerial Role

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister without Portfolio pursuant to his answer of 14 March 2006, Official Report, column 2106W, on his official car, for what reason he has not quantified the mileage covered by his car in February 2006.

Ian McCartney: This information is not held by my office.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Andre Massamba

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his Department's handling of Andre Massamba's application for asylum.

Tony McNulty: The Director General for the Immigration Nationality Directorate wrote to my hon. Friend on 24 March 2006.

Antisocial Behaviour

Si�n James: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-social behaviour orders were issued by (a) South Wales Police, (b) Dyfed Powys Police, (c) Gwent Police and (d) North Wales Police in 200405.

Hazel Blears: Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) are issued by the courts. ASBOs, issued on application, may be applied for by the police or other relevant authorities. The available information is given in the following table.
	
		Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued at all courts, as notified to the Home Office, by type of applicant or following conviction, by period and criminal justice system area in Wales
		
			  ASBOs issued on application by type of applicant 
			 Area Police British Transport Police Local Government Authority Residential Social Landlord Sub-total ASBOs issued following conviction Total 
		
		
			 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005
			 Dyfed Powys 11 3 4 
			 Gwent - - 16  16 7 23 
			 North Wales 2  1  3 37 40 
			 South Wales 13 1 5 1 20 31 51 
			 Total 16 1 22 1 40 78 118 
			 
			 1 April 2005 to 30 June 2005 (latest available)
			 Dyfed Powys  2 2 
			 Gwent -  8  8 4 12 
			 North Wales 33 28 31 
			 South Wales 33 10 13 
			 Total 6  8  14 44 58

Asylum/Immigration

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions of employers under section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 have taken place in each of the last five years.

Tony McNulty: Information on the number of employers proceeded against and found guilty under Section eight of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 in the last five years is available in the Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2004 Command Paper. Published statistics on immigration and asylum, including the Command Paper, are available on the Home Office's Research Development and Statistics website at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Asylum/Immigration

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 13 March 2006, Official Report, column 1960W, on asylum/immigration, what estimate was made of the cost of providing the information.

Tony McNulty: All central Government Departments apply a limit of 600 or three days work. Providing the information you requested would require staff to identify, recall and examine all deportation cases conceded over the past five years. The IND has estimated that this would exceed this figure.

Correspondence

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Immigration and Nationality Directorate will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood of 11 January 2006 regarding Nasir Razzaq (Home Office Reference IMM/E071S, date of birth 15 March 1974).

Tony McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to my right hon. Friend on 24 March 2006.

Correspondence

Chris Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ask the Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to report to him on when she plans to reply to the letter of 22 December from the hon. Member for Sunderland, South on behalf of Ashraf Suleiman (HO reference 5887070).

Tony McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate replied to my hon. Friend on 20 March 2006.

Correspondence

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Minister for Immigration will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood, dated 6 December 2005 (acknowledgement reference B29113/5) on behalf of Mrs. Anarine Atherton (nee Porter), Home Office reference P1035420/2.

Tony McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to my right hon. Friend on 20 March 2006.

Crime Prevention

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the oral answer of 13 February 2006, Official Report, column 1134, on crime prevention, if he will amend the guidance issued on the use of cautions.

Fiona Mactaggart: One of the main aims of the caution, as stated in the Cautioning of Adult Offenders Circular 30/2005 issued by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform is to reduce the likelihood of re-offending. It is not possible to set out definitive rules on the circumstances in which cautions are appropriate, because their use involves the exercise of discretion by the police who have to take into account a number of considerations in each case. These considerations include whether a caution is appropriate to the offence and the offender and whether it is likely to be effective in the circumstances.
	The circular advises that both national and any locally held records must be checked before a caution is given. If the suspect has previously received a caution, then a further caution should not normally be considered. However, if there has been a sufficient lapse of time to suggest that a previous caution has had a significant deterrent effect (two years or more), then a caution can be used. If evidence of repeat cautioning, of the kind referred to in the hon. Gentleman's question, suggests this is an issue in a number of other areas, we will consider revisiting the guidance on this point.

Dispersal Orders

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dispersal orders were issued by Peterborough youth court in the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Authorisations under Section 30 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, commonly known as dispersal orders, are made by a Superintendent with the agreement of the local authority. The courts are not involved in the authorisation procedure. We do not hold information centrally on the number of authorisations in the Peterborough area.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the responsibilities are of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner with regards to terrorism.

Hazel Blears: The Commissioner is responsible for the overall strategic direction and efficiency of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) across the range of the services that it delivers, including counter terrorism.

Motoring Offences

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many motoring offences were recorded in each year between 1999 and 2004 (a) in total and (b) broken down by sex.

Hazel Blears: Available information on the number of motoring offences dealt with by official police action in England and Wales from 1999 to 2003 (latest available) is given in the table. 2004 data will be available at the end of March 2006.
	
		Motoring offences dealt with by official police action(4) England and Wales 19992003
		
			  Total (Thousands of offences) 
		
		
			 1999 5,558.1 
			 2000 5,296.9 
			 2001 5,133.8 
			 2002 5,274.6 
			 2003 6,109.8 
		
	
	(4) Consists of court proceedings, written warnings, fixed penalties and vehicle defect rectification scheme notices complied with.
	Note:
	Information by gender is available at court proceedings level only.

Police

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that the existing North Wales police force area will not have fewer resources following the establishment of a single police force for Wales.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 13 February 2006
	The new strategic police authority will need to take the particular needs of North Wales into account in its resource planning. It will be for the authority to ensure that it meets the policing needs in all of its constituent areas. The roll-out of neighbourhood policing teams to every area of England and Wales underpins the restructuring programme, and strategic forces will help to safeguard local policing by reducing the need to abstract officers from neighbourhood policing teams. Therefore people will see a significant improvement in their local police service, whatever the eventual overall structure.

Police

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the extent to which the burden of administration affecting police activity has been minimised; whether he (a) has new proposals to reduce the burden and (b) is considering the merits of a further review; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: We have made good progress in reducing the bureaucratic burdens on police officers by cutting nearly 9,000 unnecessary forms; civilianising posts; rolling out the penalty notice for disorder scheme; and ensuring that forces have the best scientific and technological support like video identity parades and electronic fingerprinting.
	The National Bureaucracy Adviser, an assistant chief constable with over 20 years' experience, continues to provide practical experience to forces in the implementation of their work on reducing bureaucracy. This includes visiting forces to spread good practice; challenge, where necessary, existing practices; and drive force-led reductions in bureaucracy. This will be particularly important in the context of creating strategic forces.
	The Frontline Policing Measure for 200405 indicated that officers in England and Wales spent 64.1 per cent. of their time on frontline duties. Police authorities have set local improvement targets which should deliver substantial gains by 2008.

Police

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library the business case documents submitted to him by the Thames Valley police authority in response to his request for proposals on the reconfiguration of police force areas.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 16 January 2006
	There are no plans to place the business case documents in the Library. However anyone wishing to access the documents should contact Thames Valley police authority, who as the authors can release these documents if they wish to do so.

Police

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he will ensure that the resources in a merged Welsh police force will be distributed fairly throughout Wales.

Hazel Blears: The new strategic police authority will need to take the needs of the whole of Wales into account in its resource planning. It will be for the authority to ensure that it meets the policing needs in all of its constituent areas. The roll-out of neighbourhood policing teams to every area of England and Wales underpins the restructuring programme, and strategic forces will help to safeguard local policing by reducing the need to abstract officers from neighbourhood policing teams. Therefore people will see a significant improvement in their local police service, whatever the eventual overall structure.

Police

Hywel Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to meet the Welsh police authorities to discuss the proposed restructuring of Welsh police authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: My right hon. Friend The Home Secretary and I met with the Welsh Police Authority Chairs and Chief Constables on 6 February to discuss the way forward for Wales following the assessment of the options by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. Since then, the Home Office central team have been working closely with the Police Authorities and Chief Constables to develop the implementation plan for the move to an all-Wales strategic police force.
	The creation of an all-Wales force is subject to our consideration of any objections received in response to the notice we gave on 3 March of our intention to merge the four police areas in Wales and to Parliament's approval of the necessary amalgamation order.

Police

Hywel Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Wales since the four Welsh police authorities did not meet the consultation deadline for the proposed restructuring of the police force in Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is in close contact with the Secretary of State for Wales on the subject of police force restructuring in Wales, and has regular bi-lateral meetings with him. The four Welsh police authorities did submit business cases by the December deadline, although they were unable at that point to indicate a preferred option.
	The Home Secretary has given formal notice of his intention to amalgamate the four Welsh police force areas to the affected police authorities, local authorities and chief constables and to the Welsh Assembly Government. They have until 2 July to submit any objections to the proposal. Without prejudice to our consideration of any objections received and Parliament's consideration of the necessary amalgamation order, we will be working closely with the police authorities and chief constables on an implementation plan over the coming weeks.

Prison Service (Retirement)

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to change the Prison Service retirement age; and if he will make a statement.

Fiona Mactaggart: The public sector Prison Service introduced greater flexibility into its age retirement policy for all administrative staff in December 2005 so that they can if they wish work beyond 60 to 65. Industrial and officer support grades are already allowed to work until 65. Other grades, including prison officers, operational managers and nurses, are prevented from routinely working beyond 60. However, these policies are under review. None of these changes would affect pension entitlements.

Prisoners

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of tuberculosis have occurred at each prison in each of the last five years; what steps he is taking to reduce the incidence of tuberculosis in prisons; and if he will make a statement.

Fiona Mactaggart: Information is not routinely available from prison establishments on the number of prisoners diagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis (TB). However as TB is a notifiable disease, each new case is reported to the local consultant in communicable disease control (CCDC).
	The Prison Service's performance standard, 'Health Services for Prisoners' (May 2004) requires every prison establishment to have in place effective arrangements for the prevention, control and management of communicable diseases, including tuberculosis. These must include arrangements for the notification of all incidents of notifiable disease, such as TB to the local Health Protection Agency's consultant in communicable disease control (CCDC) and an action plan in the event of an outbreak of a communicable disease. The diagnosis, care, treatment and management and contact tracing of prisoners with tuberculosis is undertaken in consultation with local national health service specialists in accordance with the British Thoracic Society guidelines for the management of TB. Prisons are identified as a specific health care environment in the recently published National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) document 'Tuberculosis. Clinical diagnosis and management of tuberculosis and measures for its prevention and control.'

Prisoners

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to reduce the number of suicides among remand inmates;
	(2)  what action he (a) has taken and (b) is taking to reduce the incidence of suicide in prison.

Fiona Mactaggart: Concerning action that is been taken I refer the hon. Member to the prisoner suicide prevention strategy referred to in my answer of 15 March 2006, Official Report, columns 231314W, regarding prisoners who self-harm. This built upon the strategy developed since 2001 that included: Over 26 million invested in safer custody arrangements, through the Safer Local Prisons Programme. 2,650 'Listeners' (Samaritan-trained prisoner peer supporters) recruited across the estate. Suicide Prevention Coordinators (or their equivalents) placed in all prisons to provide a focal point for and increase the profile of suicide prevention.
	The strategy is aimed at protecting all prisoners, though the Government recognises that prisoners are particularly at risk of self-harm and suicide in their early period in custody, whether sentenced or on remand. Prisoners in early custody are therefore subject to a number of policies and practices designed to enhance their safety. These include health screening upon arrival that includes an assessment of risk of suicide or self-harm, the use of peer supporters ('Insiders') to offer information and support to new prisoners, and First Night and Induction procedures.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 14 March 2006, Official Report, column 2227W, on prison education, what assessment he has made of the capital requirements in each prison for the planned increase in educational enrolments; what timetable he envisages for delivery; and what interim measures he will make available to each prison.

Fiona Mactaggart: The Department for Education and Skills will have invested some 25.5 million in capital equipment to support learning and skills in prisons between financial years 200203 and 200506. As with all areas of spend on offender learning and skills, consideration of future capital requirements will be taken forward as part of the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of inmates at each prison have been enrolled in formal education activities in each year since 1997.

Fiona Mactaggart: This information is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with providers of education in prison on increasing the (a) quality and (b) quantity of education.

Fiona Mactaggart: Officials in the Learning and Skills Council have frequent discussions with providers of learning and skills for offenders in custody and in the community in the three regions where the LSC has already taken responsibility for planning and funding the delivery arrangements. In the remaining regions, detailed discussions are currently underway with prospective providers. Each of those discussions covers matters of quality and quantity.
	As part of the consultation on the Green Paper Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment (December 2005), Ministers and officials in the Department for Education and Skills have had a number of discussions with providers. Those too have touched on matters of quality and quantity in future arrangements.

Shingaradazo Mudgyima

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to deport Shingaradazo Mudgyima, alias Sheena Daniels.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 20 March 2006
	I will write to the hon. Member.

Visas

Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures are being put in place to ensure that the number of international students coming to the UK will not be reduced by the abolition of the appeal system for student visas in the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill.

Tony McNulty: I recognise the important economic and cultural contribution that international students make to the United Kingdom. We welcome genuine students and do not want to dissuade them from coming to the country. There is no evidence that potential students are attracted to apply for a course in a particular country because they are eligible for a right of appeal should they be refused entry clearance. We do not, therefore, believe that the removal of appeal rights will be a disincentive to student applications.
	There is no right of appeal against refusal of entry clearance in many other countries, for instance Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Under the new points based system, students will be granted entry clearance on the basis of transparent and objective criteria. At the moment entry clearance officers are required to make subjective judgements in accordance with the immigration rules. For example, the officer must assess an applicant's intention and ability to study.
	The points based system will abolish this requirement, and an offer from an approved institution will act as a proxy for intention and ability. This will be made possible by the Home Office and education institutions working in partnership to share the responsibility of ensuring that genuine students can come to the country while preventing abuse of the immigration system.
	Appeal rights will be removed simultaneously with the introduction of the points based system. We plan to implement the new system in phases. This will mean, for example, that as tier four is implemented, and so appeal rights for students will be removed. The systemic improvements brought by the points based system will facilitate the removal of appeal rights.
	In lieu of a full right of appeal, people will be able to apply for administrative review of the refusal of entry clearance. If a person is refused, the entry clearance officer's notice will set out precisely why the decision has been made, referring back to the criteria for which points are awarded. When applying for administrative review the applicant must set out which aspect of the decision, as justified in the refusal letter, was incorrect. Administrative review will provide applicants with a swift and effective remedy where a factual error has been made.
	We are taking additional steps to ensure that there is a high quality of entry clearance decisions. The role of the Independent Monitor will be enhanced, for example, to provide greater oversight of the operation. More resources are also being invested in training entry clearance officers and their managers, and a network of regional managers has recently been recruited.
	An amendment was also made to the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill at Lords third reading stage. This will require a report to be laid before Parliament on the entry clearance operation and administrative review within three years of the removal of appeal rights.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Ambulance Service (Ards Peninsula)

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) ambulances and (b) emergency ambulances cover the Ards Peninsula (i) on weekdays, (ii) at weekends, (A) during the day and (B) overnight.

Shaun Woodward: Cover for the Ards Peninsula is provided by A and E ambulances from Newtownards and Bangor ambulance stations. Shift patterns for these stations are shown in the following table. The figures refer to the number of ambulance crews available during each shift. There is no difference between ambulances and emergency ambulances.
	
		
			 Shift Patterns Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 
		
		
			 Ards
			 08:0020:00 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 
			 10:3021:00 1 1 1 1 1   
			 08:0015:30 1 1 1 1 1   
			 20:0008:00 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 
			 20:0007:00   1   1 1 
			 
			 Bangor
			 08:0020:00 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 
			 20:0008:00 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 
		
	
	In addition, one rapid response vehicle is deployed in the area every day from 8 am to 8 pm.
	While cover is generally provided from the Newtownards and Bangor stations, the Northern Ireland ambulance service will send the nearest available ambulance to an emergency incident if the local vehicles are already deployed.

Ambulance Service (Ards Peninsula)

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average response time for (a) ambulances and (b) emergency ambulances to calls along the Ards Peninsula was in the last period for which figures are available.

Shaun Woodward: In February 2006, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service responded to 31 calls in the Ards Peninsula area, with an average response time of 21 minutes and 4 seconds. There is no difference between ambulances and emergency ambulances.

Civil Service

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 
	(1)  how many (a) men, (b) women, (c) Catholics and (d) Protestants are employed by the Northern Ireland civil service at (i) grade 7, (ii) deputy principal grade and (iii) staff officer grade;
	(2)  when he will provide a substantive answer to Question 36980 tabled by the hon. Member for Foyle on 7 December 2005 on the Northern Ireland civil service.

Angela Smith: I am sorry for the delay in replying. This was due to a clerical error.
	The information requested is set out in the following tables.
	
		Table 1: NICS non-industrial at grade 6/7, deputy principal (DP) and staff officer (SO) grade levels by gender at 1 January 2006
		
			 Grade level Male Female Total 
		
		
			 Grade 6/7 1,039 494 1,533 
			 DP 1,510 830 2,340 
			 SO 2,031 1,313 3,344 
		
	
	
		Table 2: NICS non-industrial at grade 6/7, DP and SO grade levels by community background at 1 January 2006
		
			 Grade level Protestant Catholic Total 
		
		
			 Grade 6/7 855 557 1,412 
			 DP 1,352 914 2,266 
			 SO 1,885 1,359 3,244 
		
	
	Note:
	Totals do not match because Table 2 does not include staff whose community background is not determined.

East-West Relations

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made on improving East-West relations between the peoples of the United Kingdom, Irish Republic, Channel Islands and Isle of Man since 14 October 2002.

Angela Smith: Since 14 October 2002 Northern Ireland has continued to develop and improve East-West relations by contributing fully to the work of the British Irish Council. This has resulted in valuable co-operation and sharing of information between the BIC member administrations across each of the sectoral areas: the misuse of drugs, the environment, social inclusion, telemedicine, tourism, transport, the knowledge economy and minority languages.

Education (Statementing)

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children were statemented in each Education and Library Board area in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.

Angela Smith: The numbers of statemented children in schools in each of the last three years were as follows:
	
		
			 Education and Library Board area 200304 200405 200506 
		
		
			 Belfast 1,721 1,673 1,640 
			 Western 1,796 1,915 2,002 
			 North Eastern 2,109 2,256 2,360 
			 South Eastern 3,034 3,204 3,281 
			 Southern 2,325 2,474 2,671 
			 Total 10,985 11,522 11,954

GP Provision (Millisle)

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the general practice provision is in Millisle.

Shaun Woodward: A Donaghadee based practice provides a branch surgery in Millisle every Thursday morning. Residents of Millisle can register with nearby GP practices located in Donaghadee and Ballywalter.

Hip Replacements

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average length of time a person requiring a hip replacement waited (a) from referral by GP for an initial consultation and (b) from referral by consultant following out-patient assessment until the procedure was performed in each health board in the latest period for which figures are available.

Shaun Woodward: Waiting list information is collected by time band. It is therefore not possible to calculate the arithmetic mean (average) length of time waiting. It is however possible to identify the median or mid-point waiting time band.
	The median waiting time bands for patients waiting for their first out-patient appointment with a consultant following referral (including GP referral) to the trauma and orthopaedics (T and O) specialty (including those requiring hip replacements) at 31 December 2005 is shown in the following table. Included in the table are the median waiting time bands for patients waiting for a hip replacement operation following referral by consultant at 31 December 2005. Information is broken down by health board of residence.
	
		
			  Median waiting time band at 31 December 2005 
			 Health board of residence (a) Patients waiting for an initial consultation in the T and O specialty following referral (months) (b) Patients waiting for a hip replacement operation following consultant referral (months) 
		
		
			 Eastern 1214 Less than 6 
			 Northern 68 Less than 6 
			 Southern 68 Less than 6 
			 Western 35 Less than 6 
		
	
	Source:
	Departmental Information Return CHS Parts 1 and 2 (Part (a)) and Altnagelvin Group and Green Park Healthcare Trusts (Part (b)).

Hip Replacements

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which hospitals are undertaking hip replacement procedures in Northern Ireland.

Shaun Woodward: Currently, Musgrave Park hospital and Altnagelvin Area hospital are the only hospitals in Northern Ireland that routinely admit elective (planned) patients for hip replacement surgery. Some emergency hip replacement operations are undertaken at the Royal Victoria and Ulster hospital hospitals and, in a small number of cases, at the Causeway, Whiteabbey, Mid Ulster, Craigavon Area, Daisy Hill and Erne hospitals.

Hip Replacements

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State forNorthern Ireland how many hip replacement operations were completed in each of the last five years in each (a) hospital and (b) health board in Northern Ireland.

Shaun Woodward: The information requested is as follows.
	(a) The following table shows the number of admissions 1 to hospitals in Northern Ireland, in each of the last five years, where a hip replacement was carried out as the primary procedure.
	
		
			 Hospital 200405 200304 200203 200102 200001 
		
		
			 Musgrave Park 1,314 1,059 1,124 1,058 1,151 
			 Ulster 128 171 106 156 170 
			 RVH 469 520 485 438 434 
			 Lagan Valley 5 5 5 5 5 
			 Coleraine 5 5 5 5 21 
			 Causeway 5 12 25 26 5 
			 Whiteabbey 5 5 5 5 5 
			 Mid Ulster 5 5 5 5 6 
			 Antrim 5 5 5 5 5 
			 Craigavon Area 11 5 5 5 5 
			 Daisy Hill 5 5 5 5 5 
			 Altnagelvin 453 395 346 284 260 
			 Erne 5 5 5 5 5 
		
	
	(b) The following table shows the number of admissions 1 to hospitals in each Health Board in Northern Ireland, in each of the last five years, where a hip replacement was carried out as the primary procedure.
	
		
			 Health Board(6) 200405 200304 200203 200102 200001 
		
		
			 Eastern 1,911 1,750 1,715 1,652 1,755 
			 Northern 0 17 25 31 27 
			 Southern 11 5 5 5 5 
			 Western 453 395 346 284 260 
		
	
	(5) Discharges and deaths are used as an approximation to admissions. It is possible that any individual could be admitted to hospital more than once in any year and will thus be counted more than once as an admission.
	(6) Health Board refers to the Health Board of the Trust providing the treatment.
	Cell sizes less than five have been masked to minimize confidentiality risks.
	Source:
	Hospital Inpatient System

Hip Replacements

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients are waiting for hip replacements in Northern Ireland in each (a) health board and (b) hospital in Northern Ireland, broken down by sex.

Shaun Woodward: The number of patients waiting for a hip replacement by health board of residence for Altnagelvin and Musgrave Park hospitals at 31 December 2005 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number waiting for hip replacement at 31 December 2005 
			  Health board of residence Altnagelvin hospital Musgrave Park hospital 
		
		
			 Eastern 0 446 
			 Northern 57 272 
			 Southern 5 184 
			 Western 188 58 
			 Northern Ireland 250 960 
		
	
	Note:
	As figures were provided in aggregate form, it was not possible to break down by gender.
	Source:
	Altnagelvin Group and Green Park Healthcare HSS Trusts.

Hip Replacements

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time for (i) initial orthopaedic outpatient assessment and (ii) hip replacement was in each health trust in the Province in the last period for which figures are available.

Shaun Woodward: Waiting list information is collected by time band. It is therefore not possible to calculate the arithmetic mean (average) and longest time waiting. It is however possible to identify the median or mid point and longest waiting time band.
	The median and longest waiting time band along with the number of patients in the longest time band for (i) initial out-patient assessment in the Trauma and Orthopaedic (TO) specialty and (ii) hip replacement, for each applicable Health Trust for those patients waiting at 31 December 2005 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  (i) Initial out-patient TO assessment at 31 December 2005 (ii) Hip replacement at 31 December 2005 
			  HSS Trust Median waiting time band  Longest waiting time band Median waiting time band  Longest waiting time band 
		
		
			 Green Park 68 months 10.1 per cent. of patients waiting 24 + months 35 months 1.7 per cent. of patients waiting 1214 months 
			 Altnagelvin 35 months 0.7 per cent. of patients waiting 24 + months Less than 6 months 7.6 per cent. of patients waiting 1217 months 
			 Royal Group 1517 months 30.9 per cent. of patients waiting 24 + months n/a n/a 
			 Ulster Community and Hospitals 1214 months 22.6 per cent. of patients waiting 24 + months n/a n/a 
			 Down Lisburn 02 months 12.2 per cent. of patients waiting 35 months n/a n/a 
			 Mater 68 months 0.5 per cent. of patients waiting 2123 months n/a n/a 
		
	
	Sources:
	Departmental Information Return CH3 Parts 1 and 2 (part i) and Altnagelvin Group and Green Park Healthcare HSS Trusts (part ii)

NIPPA (Funding)

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding each health trust in Northern Ireland is providing for NIPPA early years pre-school groups in 200506.

Shaun Woodward: The following table sets out the amount of funding provided by each health and social services trust in 200506 to the NIPPA early years pre-school groups:
	
		
			 Trust Amount provided () 
		
		
			 Armagh and Dungannon HSS Trust 5,280 
			 Causeway HSS Trust 9,692 
			 Craigavon and Banbridge Community HSS Trust 31,745 
			 Down Lisburn HSS Trust 56,670 
			 Foyle Community HSS Trust 40,035 
			 Homefirst Community HSS Trust 61,348 
			 Newry and Mourne HSS Trust 28,035 
			 North and West Belfast Community HSS Trust 108,816 
			 South and East Belfast Community HSS Trust 130,000 
			 Sperrin Lakeland HSS Trust 23,388 
			 Ulster Hospitals and Community HSS Trust 23,555

Post-Primary Curriculum

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will commission the National Foundation for Educational Research to evaluate the papers produced by Dr. Hugh Morrison on alternative post-primary admissions and curriculum arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Angela Smith: There are no plans to commission any evaluation by the National Foundation for Educational Research. Dr. Morrison's papers are being considered by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment and I expect to receive advice from the Council shortly.

Post-Primary Curriculum

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the contract awarded to the National Foundation for Educational Research to evaluate the proposed new post-primary curriculum and assessment arrangements for Northern Ireland was subject to competitive tender.

Angela Smith: No contract has been awarded to evaluate the proposed new post-primary curriculum and assessment arrangements for Northern Ireland. The National Foundation for Educational Research was awarded the contract to evaluate the implementation plans for the proposed curriculum and assessment arrangements, covering all Key Stages. This contract was subject to competitive tender.

Post-Primary Curriculum

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of whether (a) the draft Education (Northern Ireland) Order and (b) the proposed new post-primary curriculum satisfied the guidelines set out in A Practical Guide to Policy Making in Northern Ireland published by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Smith: The Department of Education has regard to the Practical Guide to Policy Making and I am satisfied that all the necessary and appropriate steps have been taken in relation to the preparation of the proposal for a draft Education (NI) Order 2006 and the revised curriculum for the primary and post- primary phases.

Post-Primary Curriculum

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he took to consult parents on the proposed post-primary curriculum for Northern Ireland.

Angela Smith: CCEA undertook extensive consultation on its key stage 3 proposals in autumn 2003. The consultation took a wide variety of forms, including focus group meetings and briefings with key stakeholders, including parents. The consultation was widely publicised in the media and consultation materials were made available in a wide range of formats to facilitate responses. The consultation was independently evaluated by the Consultation Institute and was described as 'excellent'.
	In addition, the Department consulted key stakeholders, including parents, on the draft Education Order, which includes provision for the revised post-primary curriculum. The consultation was widely publicised and responses were invited online or in writing. Officials are analysing the responses and I will publish my response in due course.

University Education

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many students normally resident in Northern Ireland are estimated to have gone to full-time university education in Great Britain in each of the last 10 years.

Angela Smith: The information is in the following table.
	
		NI domiciled full-time first year enrolments at English, Scottish and Welsh Higher Education institutions 199596 to 200405
		
			 Academic year Undergraduate Postgraduate Total 
		
		
			 199596 4,001 759 4,760 
			 199697 4,101 802 4,903 
			 199798 4,256 877 5,133 
			 199899 4,092 792 4,884 
			 19992000 3,719 810 4,529 
			 200001 3,500 853 4,353 
			 200102 3,461 866 4,327 
			 200203 3,677 960 4,637 
			 200304 3,752 1,050 4,802 
			 200405 3,915 995 4,910 
		
	
	Source:
	Higher Education Statistics Agency

Waiting Lists

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people are awaiting an initial out-patient assessment with a consultant following a referral by their general practitioner in Northern Ireland.

Shaun Woodward: At 31 December 2005, there were 180,238 patients waiting for an initial out-patient assessment with a consultant. Of which, 146,952 (81.5 per cent.) had been referred by their general practitioner (this figure does not include GP referrals to Homefirst and Foyle health and social services trusts).

WALES

Capita Group

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much business his Department has placed with (a) Capita Group plc and (b) its subsidiaries in each of the last five years; what the total value is of outstanding contracts placed with Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries by his Department; for which current tenders issued by his Department (i) Capita Group plc and (ii) its subsidiaries have been invited to bid; and whether (A) Capita Group plc and (B) its subsidiaries have seconded staff (1) temporarily and (2) on a longer-term basis to his Department.

Peter Hain: The Wales Office has no contracts with Capita or its subsidiaries.

Capita Group

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many tenders (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries has submitted to his Department in each of the last three years; and how many tenders were successful.

Peter Hain: The Wales Office has received no tenders from Capita or its subsidiaries.

Capita Group

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales 
	(1)  how many contracts his Department holds with (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries which have a potential duration of five years or more;
	(2)  what the value of contracts held by his Department with (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries was in the last three financial years.

Peter Hain: The Wales Office has no contracts with Capita or its subsidiaries.

Child Support Agency

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions about the performance of the Child Support Agency in Wales.

Peter Hain: I have regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues about the performance of their relative Departments in Wales.
	My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Alan Johnson), announced on 9 February a redesign of child support that would consider the fundamental policy and delivery arrangements. Sir David Henshaw, who is carrying out the redesign, is scheduled to report to the Secretary of State by the summer recess. The Government will then respond to Sir David's findings.
	This redesign is in addition to the Child Support Agency's operational improvement plan. This sets out how the Agency will radically overhaul its operations to provide a significantly improved level of client service and achieve an overall improvement in the amount of money collected for children in Wales and other parts of the UK.

Council Tax

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales pursuant to his answer of 9 March 2006, Official Report, column 1640W, on council tax, how many cameras the Valuation Office Agency purchased for use in the council tax revaluation in Wales.

Peter Hain: No cameras were bought specifically by the Valuation Office Agency for use in the council tax revaluation in Wales. All cameras purchased by the Agency are used across all areas of its business.

Energy and Transport Policy

Peter Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what procedures he has put in place to ensure those aspects of energy and transport policy not devolved to the Welsh Assembly are delivered in a way compatible with the energy and transport strategies of the Welsh Assembly.

Peter Hain: I have regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues and Welsh Assembly Government Ministers about both devolved and non-devolved matters affecting Wales.
	Concordats are also in place between the Assembly and the Department for Transport and the Department of Trade and Industry. These set out a framework for working relationships and communications between the parties.

Energy/Water Efficiency

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proportion of the Department's building programme budget was allocated to (a) energy self-generation and (b) water recycling measures in the 200405 financial year.

Peter Hain: None. The Wales Office is taking steps to reduce both energy and water consumption in partnership with the Carbon Trust, and Thames Water.

Flood Defences (Welsh Coast)

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what funding has been allocated in flood defence works by each local authority along the South Wales coast between Newport and Llanelli in each year between 1995 and 2005.

Peter Hain: Capital expenditure since the existing structure of local authorities was established in 1996, is set out in the following tables.
	
		Land drainage and flood prevention
		
			 000 
			 Local authority 199697 199798 199899 19992000 200001 200102 200203 200304 200405 
		
		
			 Carmarthenshire 31   71 120 50 273 671  
			 Swansea 80 139 242 177 110 44 31 21 9 
			 Neath Port Talbot 284 131 96 87 237 219 217 380 78 
			 Bridgend 55 94 214 263 446 195 137 114 511 
			 Vale of Glamorgan   318 1 12 
			 Cardiff   433 107 65 
			 Newport 222,145 
		
	
	
		Coast protection
		
			 000 
			 Local authority 199697 199798 199899 19992000 200001 200102 200203 200304 200405 
		
		
			 Carmarthenshire 567 510  31 130 25 27   
			 Swansea 27 280 269 19 7 206 27 155 91 
			 Neath Port Talbot  2,594 38   
			 Bridgend 6 1 66 50 57 115 42 51 33 
			 Vale of Glamorgan 4 34 32  49 
			 Cardiff  
			 Newport

Small Firms

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Waleswhat definition the Department uses of a small firm.

Peter Hain: There is no single definition of a small firm with terms such as small firm and SME (small and medium sized enterprise) used interchangeably. However, two of the most common definitions are those provided by the European Commission and the Companies Act 1985. These definitions can be found at:
	http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/sme_d efinition/index_en.htm and http://www.dti.gov.uk/cld/audit.htm.
	Wales Office has no policy or operational responsibility for support schemes to businesses. In Wales, these are administered by the Welsh Assembly Government. The Assembly Government use the definition agreed by the European Commission.

Young People

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what funds he plans to make available in Wales (a) to offer young people evening sports and (b) to tackle antisocial behaviour.

Peter Hain: The United Kingdom Parliament votes the necessary provision for Wales to the Secretary of State; he makes payments to the devolved administrations. The block grants (or assigned budgets) are contained within the devolved administrations' Departmental Expenditure Limits. Changes to these budgets are generally determined by the Barnett formula. The allocation of public expenditure between the services under the control of the devolved Administrations is for the devolved Administrations to determine.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Concessionary Travel

Mark Hunter: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the extent to which funding provided through the revenue support grant to Stockport metropolitan borough council to provide free off-peak bus travel for older and disabled people is sufficient to cover its contribution to the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority to implement the scheme.

Phil Woolas: Government support for concessionary fares is funded via the revenue support grant settlement. Revenue support grant is an unhypothecated block grant. This means that authorities are able to spend the grant on any service. It is not therefore possible to say how much grant an authority received for a particular service.

Cost of Fire Sub-group

John McDonnell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he intends to reconvene the cost of fire sub-group to re-examine the cost of fire in England.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The cost of fire sub-group was an ad hoc working group. The need for, and timing of, any future meetings of such a group will be considered when appropriate.

English Cities

John Spellar: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish an errata slip for the publication English Cities to acknowledge the existence of the boroughs of Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Sandwell.

Phil Woolas: The existence of Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Sandwell is already acknowledged in the State of the English Cities Report. Appendix 2 to Volume 2 of the report lists all of the local authority districts that comprise each of the 56 Primary Urban Areas (PUAs) used for analytical purposes. The four boroughs referred to, plus Solihull and Birmingham, are all shown as included in the Birmingham PUA.
	PUAs were used as a tool for analyses rather than local authority areas in order to better reflect the boundaries of physically built-up areas. Section 2.3.5 of the main Report explains that PUAs are not co-terminous with local authority boundaries, although the names are sometimes the same.
	The detailed data from the State of the English Cities report will be publicly accessible on the ODPM website at a range of spatial scales, including local authority and neighbourhood levels, from early summer 2006. It will then be possible for individual local authorities to carry out in-depth analyses for their own areas.

Fire and Rescue Authorities

John McDonnell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many contacts have been received since 1997 by the fire and rescue authorities in England from employers in compliance with their duties under Regulation 4(2)(b) of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997, as amended.

Jim Fitzpatrick: This information is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Fire and Rescue Authorities

John McDonnell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many enforcement notices have been issued by the fire and rescue services in England in accordance with Regulation 13 of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997, as amended, in each year since 1997.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of Enforcement Notices served since 199899 by fire and rescue services in England is presented in the following table. Information prior to 199899 is not held centrally.
	
		Enforcement Notices served under Section 13(1) of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997: England
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 199899 82 
			 19992000 175 
			 200001 661 
			 200102 1,036 
			 200203 1,079 
			 200304 1,364 
			 200405 (provisional) 984 
		
	
	Source:
	ODPM Performance and Management Information database

Fire and Rescue Authorities

John McDonnell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidance his Department has offered to the business community and their associations on the move to integrated risk management plans by fire and rescue services; and what assessment his Department has made of the impact on insurance premiums payable.

Jim Fitzpatrick: No formal guidance has been offered by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to the business community and their associations on the move to integrated risk management plans (IRMP) and no assessment has been made on the impact of insurance premiums payable. However, the business community will be consulted by fire and rescue authorities as required under any IRMP, and advice and clarification on any proposal provided where requested.
	While it is the responsibility of every business to ensure good fire safety and business continuity plans are in place, we also recognise the need to remain fully engaged with the business community and their associations on IRMPs. Therefore, the business community are active participants in the Business and Community Safety Forum and we have invited a number of key representatives, including the Fire Protection Association and the CBI, to participate in an IRMP steering group. Discussions on the need for further IRMP guidance and what form that guidance should take will be had within that group and recommendations brought before Ministers if appropriate.

Fire and Rescue Authorities

John McDonnell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what information is required to be supplied to his Department by the Fire and Rescue Authorities in England under the Fire Precautions Act 1971 (as amended) and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 (as amended).

Jim Fitzpatrick: Fire and rescue authorities in England are requested to complete a series of annual fire safety returns. The relevant ones are summarised in the following table:
	
		
			 Form number Legislation Information requested 
		
		
			 FSR1ab 1971 Act Number of inspections, re-inspections and consultations by fire safety staff, and number of staff hours by type of premises 
			 FSR2ab 1971 Act Number of inspections, re-inspections and consultations by operational staff, and number of staff hours by type of premises 
			 FSR4A 1971 Act Number of certificates issued and progress of applications by type of premises 
			 FSR4C 1971 Act Number of exemptions from the requirement to have a fire certificate by type of premises 
			 FSR4D 1971 Act Number of appeals under section 9 of the Act by type of premises 
			 FSR4E 1971 Act Number of prosecutions and contraventions by type of premises 
			 FSR4F 1971 Act Number of prohibition notices under section 10 by type of premises 
			 FSR4G 1997 Regulations Number of enforcement notices served under Section 13 (1)

Fire Losses

John McDonnell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Association of British Insurers (ABI), (b) the business community, (c) fire and rescue authorities and (d) other stakeholders regarding the rise in actual fire losses announced by the ABI.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister regularly engages its key stakeholders at various levels on matters pertaining to fire safety through the Business and Community Safety Forum. The forum brings together representatives from the Association of British Insurers, the business community, the fire and rescue authorities and other key stakeholders to provide advice on a range of fire-related issues, and in particular the reduction of fire risk. These organisations are also represented on the Arson Control Forum which meets regularly to look specifically at issues surrounding deliberate fires.

Firefighters (Pensions)

Philip Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of the members of the Firefighters' Pension Scheme joined the scheme (a) before the age of (i) 20, (ii) 25, (iii) 30, (iv) 35, (v) 40 and (vi) 45 and (b) when they were over 45 years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Of active members of the Firefighters' Pension Scheme in England who were serving on 31 December 2004, it is estimated that:
	(a) (i) 16 per cent. joined before the age of 20;
	(ii) 63 per cent. joined before the age of 25;
	(iii) 91 per cent. joined before the age of 30;
	(iv) 97 per cent. joined before the age of 35;
	(v) 99 per cent. joined before the age of 40;
	(vi) more than 99 per cent. joined before the age of 45;
	(b) less than 1 per cent. joined when they were aged 45 years or over.
	The age at which current pensioner members and deferred pensioner members of the Firefighters' Pension Scheme joined the scheme is not held centrally.

Local Government (Pensions)

Philip Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of members of the local government pension scheme joined the scheme (a) before the age of (i) 20, (ii) 25, (iii) 30, (iv) 35, (v) 40 and (vi) 45 and (b) when they were over 45 years.

Phil Woolas: This information requested is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Local Government Restructuring

Fraser Kemp: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he plans to abolish multi-member wards in local government.

Phil Woolas: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has launched a public debate about the governance arrangements for local areas. We are listening to all views on governance arrangements, some of which may have implications for electoral arrangements in local authorities. We plan to publish a White Paper on the future of local government in the summer.

Mini-Motorcycles

Ian Austin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what powers local authorities have to prohibit the use of unregistered mini-motorcycles in designated areas.

Stephen Ladyman: I have been asked to reply.
	It is illegal to use unregistered mini-motorcycles on the public highway. They can be used off the public highway, provided permission is given by the relevant landowner, and subject to any statutory controls (e.g. a noise abatement notice issued by a local authority).
	The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has recently issued a circular giving guidance on the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on rights of way and off-road in the countryside.
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/cl/mpv/index.htm
	The guidance refers to powers currently available to police and local authorities for tackling illegal and inappropriate motor vehicle use, but points out that there are additional ways in which local communities, with police and local authorities, and relevant organisations, can work together to provide solutions.

HEALTH

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, 
	(1)  if she will list those stakeholders who were consulted about the changes made to the new abortion notification form; if she will place in the Library the responses received; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  if she will make a statement on the changes to the new abortion notification form.

Caroline Flint: The Department's consultation on changes to the abortion notification form (April 2000) and the outcome of that consultation (April 2002) set out the stakeholders consulted and why the form was reviewed and the changes made to the form (which took effect from 18 April 2002). These documents, which include references to the key points consultees made, have been placed in the Library.

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the Government's progress in reducing the number of abortions.

Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to him on 21 March 2006, Official Report, column 250W.

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will amend the abortion notification form to provide for the inclusion of the method of abortion known as partial-birth abortion; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: We have no current plans to amend the abortion notification form. The form, which is sent to the Chief Medical Officer after each abortion is performed, already collects the method of abortion used and each form is checked.
	We are not aware of the procedure referred to as partial-birth abortion being used in Great Britain.

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost of performing an abortion was in NHS hospitals in (a) 1979, (b) 1983, (c) 1987, (d) 1992 and (e) each year since 1993.

Caroline Flint: The available information is shown in the table. Costs before 1998 are not held centrally.
	
		
			  Cost () 
		
		
			 1998 324 
			 1999 343 
			 2000 351 
			 2001 400 
			 2002 441 
			 2003 486 
			 2004 503 
		
	
	Source:
	National Schedule of Reference Costs

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if she will make a statement on her Department's medical abortion pilot;
	(2)  how much her Department has spent on the medical abortion pilot; where each is (a) taking place and (b) planned to take place; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  what research her Department has (a) undertaken and (b) plans to undertake into the longer-term benefits and risks of the medical abortion pilot; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: Under the Abortion Act 1967, an abortion can only be performed in a hospital vested in a national health service trust, primary care trust or foundation trust or in an approved independent sector place.
	Section l(3a) of the Abortion Act 1967 gives the Secretary of State for Health the power to approve a class of place to perform medical abortion which could enable this method to be available in a wider range of healthcare settings. Two hospitals are being funded by the Department to run early medical abortion services in non-traditional settings, to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of provision in these settings. One site is within a community hospital; the other is in a stand-alone unit within an acute hospital. Both sites have been running since 2004.
	The Department has spent 263,000. The money has been used to set up the service and to support the funding of the service.
	The Department is in the process of tendering a formal evaluation to assess the safety, effectiveness and patient acceptability of providing early medical abortion services in non-traditional settings.

Accident and Emergency Departments

David Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the categories of accident and emergency (AE) departments; and what the criteria are for determining into which category an AE department falls.

Liam Byrne: There are three types of accident and emergency (AE) department for reporting purposes. Primary care trusts and national health service trusts together with strategic health authorities are expected to use this to determine into which category an individual service falls. The current definition is as follows:
	Type one AE department, which is a consultant led 24-hour service with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation for the reception of AE patients;
	Type two AE department, which is a consultant led single speciality AE service, for example ophthalmology or dental, with designated accommodation for the reception of patients.
	Type three AE department, which is other type of AE or minor injury units with designated accommodation for the reception of AE patients.
	A type three department may be doctor led or nurse led. A defining characteristic of a service qualifying as a type three department is that it treats at least minor injuries and illnesses, for example sprains, and can be routinely accessed without appointment. A service mainly or entirely appointment based, for example a general practitioner practice or outpatient clinic, is not a type three AE service even though it may treat a number of patients with minor illness or injury.
	Notes:
	Type three services include all NHS walk in centres and other open access treatment services offering at least minor injury/illness services, whether located alongside a main AE department or at another location.

Alcohol Dependency

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much each primary care trust in England will receive to treat alcohol dependency in 200708.

Caroline Flint: The alcohol needs assessment research programme published by the Department last year found that the Government spends an estimated 217 million on alcohol treatment each year. In 200708, primary care trusts in England will receive an additional 15 million to treat alcohol dependency. Allocations for individual trusts are not known at this time.

Asperger's Syndrome

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research she has commissioned on whether there are links between drug and alcohol dependency and Asperger's Syndrome; and what advice she is offering to those involved in (a) medical research and (b) medical practice on this issue.

Caroline Flint: The Department has not made any specific recent research into links between Asperger's Syndrome and drug or alcohol dependency.

Cancer

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the trend in the incidence of (a) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, (b) breast cancer and (c) multiple myeloma in (i) men and (ii) women; and if she will make a statement.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 29 March 2006
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the trend in incidence of (a) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (b) breast cancer and (c) multiple myeloma in (i) men and (ii) women. (62170)
	The latest available incidence figures are for the year 2003. Directly age-standardised registration rates per 100,000 population, by site and sex, in each year between 1994 and 2003, are available in Table 10 of the Annual Reference Volume, Cancer statistics: Registrations, Series MB1. These are available on the National Statistics website: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=8843Pos=1ColRank=2Rank=272
	The most recent trends in incidence for the cancer sites requested are given in the table below for England.
	
		Directly age-standardised(7) registration rates (per 100,000 population) for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast cancer and multiple myeloma, by sex, 19942003, England
		
			 Site(8)/sex 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 
		
		
			 Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma  
			 M 14.2 13.8 13.8 14.4 14.7 
			 F 9.7 9.3 9.3 9.9 10.5 
			   
			 Breast  
			 M 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.9 1.0 
			 F 103.5 105.6 106.3 113.1 113.3 
			   
			 Myeloma  
			 M 5.1 5.3 5.2 5.2 5.8 
			 F 3.6 4.0 3.5 3.6 3.8 
		
	
	
		
			 Site(8)/sex 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma  
			 M 15.1 15.2 15.4 14.9 15.3 
			 F 10.8 10.9 10.9 10.7 11.1 
			   
			 Breast  
			 M 1.0 0.7 0.9 0.9 1.0 
			 F 116.5 113.8 114.5 114 120.3 
			   
			 Myeloma  
			 M 5.5 5.7 5.4 5.4 5.7 
			 F 3.7 4.0 3.5 3.6 3.7 
		
	
	(7) Directly age-standardised using the European Standard Population.
	(8) For cancers registered in 2003, site is based on codes in the International Classification of Diseases. Tenth Revision (ICD 10). Malignant neoplasms of the breast are defined by code C50, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by codes C8285, and multiple myeloma and malignant plasma cell neoplasms by code C90.
	Source:
	Office for National Statistics

Cancer

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has (a) to ensure that cancer patients are made aware of benefits to which they may be entitled at each stage of the patient journey and (b) to provide training for healthcare professionals to play a signposting role for patients about benefits to which they may be entitled; and whether there is a timetable for (i) drawing up and (ii) implementing such plans.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 28 March 2006
	Our Health, Our Care, Our say; a new direction for community services proposes that an information prescription will be developed for people with long-term health and social care needs. The information prescription will signpost people, including patients with cancer, to further information and advice about services, including where to get advice and information on benefits. We expect support, such as training, that professionals might need to give information prescriptions to people, to be incorporated into pilots that will be taking place before the prescription is introduced in 2008.

Chronic Hepatitis B

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England have been diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B.

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not available centrally.
	The Health Protection Agency (HPA) carries out surveillance of laboratory reports of acute hepatitis B infection as they provide a more accurate source for following trends in the disease incidence (new cases), help evaluate the current immunisation programme and inform national and local control policy.
	Surveillance of acute hepatitis B infection in England and Wales is carried out by the HPA. Data on reported diagnoses of acute hepatitis B infection from 1990 to 2003 is available on the HPA's website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/hepatitis_b/data.htm.

Community Hospitals

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what instructions on community hospitals her Department has given (a) strategic health authorities and (b) primary care trusts since the publication of the Health White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say;
	(2)  when she will issue further guidance for primary care trusts on how to apply the principles of the White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say, in relation to community hospitals.

Liam Byrne: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given today to the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper).

Digital Hearing Aids

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time between initial general practitioner referral and final fitting of digital hearing aids was in each hospital trust in the last period for which figures are available.

Liam Byrne: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 20 March 2006, Official Report, column 141W.

Digital Hearing Aids

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much was spent by primary care trusts on the public private partnership established for the provision of digital hearing aids in (a) 200304 and (b) 200405; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  which primary care trusts have commissioned services under the public private partnership established for the provision of digital hearing aids; how many patients were treated as a result in (a) 200304 and (b) 200405; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: A breakdown of primary care trusts participating in public private partnership (PPP) is not available. Royal National Institute for the Deaf, who successfully managed the modernising hearing aids project on behalf of the Department, has provided a list of all national health service trusts participating in the PPP initiative, which has been placed in the Library. The allocated spending to all participating NHS trusts in 200304 was 3.5 million and 200405 was 5.6 million. The information requested on how much was spent by PCTs on the PPP initiative for 200304 and 200506 is not held centrally.
	During the 200304 PPP scheme, 25,000 patient journeys were completed. From April 2005 to end of February 2006, 40,593 patient journeys were completed.

Drug Assessments

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are working on abuse of illegal drugs whose responsibility it is to carry out drug assessments.

Caroline Flint: The national treatment agency (NTA) monitors the workforce in drug treatment in England. The numbers of specialist drug workers working in the drug treatment sector have increased from 6,794 in March 2002 to 10,106 in September 2005. These are staff who should be able to carry out assessments of a client's substance misuse needs.
	The original target to have at least 9,000 workers in the drug treatment sector has therefore already been reached. There is steady progress being made towards achieving the new revised target of 11,000.
	These figures include all permanent and temporary staff whose primary function is drug treatment in the community. It does not include shared care general practitioners or drug workers in prison or all staff working in drug intervention programmes (DIP).
	Prisons have approximately 1,500 specialist drug workers in prisons who may potentially undertake drug assessments. This comprises of 850 counselling, assessment, referral, advice and through care workers and 650 drug treatment programme staff. These figures are the total number of staff who may potentially undertake drug assessments. However, it may be the case that assessment work is undertaken by some staff and not others depending on team arrangements. The figures for how local or individual teams arrange their working practices are not recorded centrally.
	Additionally, there are drugs workers in every custody suite, as part of the drug intervention programme, who, where necessary, conduct required assessments for offenders. Part of the planning for the implementation of the 2005 Drugs Act included working with local drugs teams to ensure that sufficient resources be available to conduct these assessments for offenders. As part of this process all areas implementing the Required Assessment provisions of the Drugs Act 2005, the drug intervention programme intensive areas, were asked to quantify the extra drug workers required to deliver this and additional funding has been allocated. Funding was allocated for some 370 new workers to deliver these required assessments.
	We do not hold figures for GPs involved in assessment centrally but the percentage of GP practices recorded by the Healthcare Commission in 200304 within a shared care scheme for problem drug misusers was 35 per cent. The NTA set a 200506 target of 35 per cent. of GPs working within shared care. The results of this target will be published in April 2006.
	In addition, by September 2005, 1,894 health care professionals had completed the Department funded Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) drug misuse e-learning module, 562 had attended face to face training arising from this, and 776 GPs had attended the more advanced RCGP certificate. A further 130 GPs were attending the course in September 2005. Over the same period nearly 300 other primary care staff, for example nurses and pharmacists, have attended the certificate training.

Fluoridation Schemes

Brian H Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what public consultation process will be undertaken by strategic health authorities proposing new or extended water fluoridation schemes; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 28 March 2006
	If strategic health authorities (SHAs) decide to proceed to explore the benefits of fluoridation, before carrying out a consultation under section 89(1) of the Water Act 2003 they should firstly consult the water undertakers concerned as to whether the arrangements would be operable and efficient. Regulation 3 of the Water Fluoridation (Consultation) Regulations 2005 no. 921 requires SHAs to publish details of the proposal in one or more newspapers circulating in the area and in such other accessible media as the SHA considers appropriate to bring the proposal to the attention of individuals affected and bodies with an interest. SHAs are also required to give notice of the proposal to every local authority affected by the proposal. They are also required to seek the views of their local authority at every step of a consultation on fluoridation.
	The other bodies with an interest that SHAs are advised to notify include:
	patient and public involvement forums.
	professional bodies representing doctors, dentists and other health care profession.
	voluntary organisations concerned with the health and social care of children, adults and
	older people.
	the Consumer Council for water and other consumer groups.
	companies or businesses operating in the area who use water in the manufacture or processing of products intended for human consumption.
	environmental organisations.
	The response to the consultations will indicate the extent of support for a proposal and SHAs are required to take account of the cogency of the representations and their relevance to health arguments. A SHA cannot base its decision solely on a simple count of the representations for or against the proposal. In making its decision, the SHA should consider publishing a summary of responses, any changes made to the proposal as a result, a summary of the next steps and the reasons for the decision in line with the Cabinet Office code of practice on consultations.

Fluoridation Schemes

Brian H Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the strategic health authorities that have commenced consultation with (a) the public, (b) other stakeholders and (c) water companies on commencing artificial fluoridation of water supplies.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 28 March 2006
	Strategic health authorities (SHAs) have not started consultation on fluoridation with the public and other stakeholders as laid down in Section 58 of the Water Act 2003 and the Water Fluoridation (Consultation) Regulations 2005 No. 921.
	We understand that Greater Manchester SHA is currently undertaking discussions on the feasibility of fluoridation with United Utilities, the water undertaker in the North West of England.

Fluoridation Schemes

Brian H Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place in the Library a copy of the guidance issued to water companies on the legal situation should a strategic health authority request a water fluoridation scheme.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 28 March 2006
	The Chief Inspector of Drinking Water issued an information letter to all water companies in England and Wales on the 11 April 2005 together with a copy of the code of practice on technical aspects of fluoridation of water supplies 2005. Section 2 of the code of practice outlines the legal framework for water fluoridation as in Section 58 of the Water Act 2003 and the changes from original provisions within the Water Industry Act 1991 as they effect water companies in England and Wales. This guidance has been placed in the Library.

Food Standards Authority

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will assess the merits of introducing proposals for a statutory traffic light of food labelling should the Food Standards Authority be unable to reach a voluntary code within the industry.

Caroline Flint: At its meeting on 9 March, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) board agreed recommendations for a voluntary front-of-pack signpost labelling scheme. The FSA is not advocating a legislative approach as it considers that working closely with industry is the most suitable means to stimulate change. Both the FSA and the Department are encouraged that certain supermarkets are taking up the voluntary scheme and that an increasing number of companies are considering applying this traffic light-based signpost labelling to processed food products.
	Food labelling is governed by European Union legislation. The European Commission recognises that there is a need for simplified nutrition labelling and is reviewing the Nutrition Labelling Directive (90/496/EEC). One aspect of this review will be how to reflect the consumer demand for clear front-of-pack nutritional information.

Foster Report

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she received the report of Andrew Foster's review of non-medical professional regulation; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: I received a draft of the report of the review of non-medical professional regulation on 30 December and a further draft on 6 March. I will make a statement when I publish the decisions we take on the report in due course.

General Practitioners

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors participated in (a) the general practitioners' returners scheme and (b) the flexible careers scheme in each year since they were introduced; and how much each cost in each year.

Liam Byrne: Between November 2002 and December 2005, 376 general practitioners participated in the returner scheme. During the same period, 1,562 general practitioners participated in the flexible careers scheme. The schemes were devolved to strategic health authorities from January 2006. The central funding provided to support the schemes is shown in the table.
	
		Schemes for general practitioners
		
			  
			  200203 200304 200405 200506 
		
		
			 Returners  400,000 1.5 million 7 million 
			 Flexible careers  3.6 million 16.7 million

Health Service Provision

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on plans to extend services provided by (a) community hospitals and (b) health centres in England.

Liam Byrne: As stated in paragraph 25 of the recently published White Paper, Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services, the Department aims to provide more care in more local and convenient settings. This will partially be achieved by introducing a new generation of community hospitals and other facilities, such as health centres, with strong ties to social care.
	The White Paper makes clear that any current proposals on the future of community hospitals in an area should follow the principles that it sets out. The Department wrote to strategic health authorities (SHAs) on 16 February outlining how SHAs should test primary care trust (PCT) community hospital proposals against these principles. A copy of this letter has been placed in the Library.
	Interested PCTs will be able to bid for capital support for reinvestment in the new generation of community hospitals and smaller facilities. A document will be published after Easter providing further guidance to PCTs on generating support for a new generation of community hospitals and smaller facilities.

Hospital Expenditure

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the expenditure on (a) community hospitals and (b) acute hospitals was in each year since 2001, broken down by NHS trust.

Liam Byrne: The information is not available in the format requested.

Hospital-acquired Diseases

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding was allocated for the education of health workers on hospital acquired diseases in 200506.

Liam Byrne: The information requested is not held centrally.

Influenza Vaccinations

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps will be taken by her Department to maximise the take-up rate of influenza vaccinations by those eligible during autumn 2006 and winter 200607.

Caroline Flint: As in previous years, we will run a comprehensive marketing campaign targeting those in at risk groups. The campaign may utilise opportunities through advertising, national television and radio, press activity and public relations activity using media and stakeholders to increase awareness and uptake.

Irlen Syndrome

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to promote a co-ordinated approach to the identification and treatment of Irlen syndrome.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 21 March 2006
	The best interests of children will be served by a scheme of assessment and treatment, provided in agreement between local health and education services, which takes into account the full range of possible ways of helping children with the symptoms associated with descriptions of Irlen syndrome. This is something that local education and health authorities should take forward in view of their responsibilities for services in their areas.

Medicines

Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Type II variations to marketing authorisations targeted for approval within 90 days in the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency business plan are taking longer than the target time for approval; and by how much each has exceeded this period;

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Type II variations to marketing authorisations took longer than 90 days for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to approve in the last period for which figures are available; and how long each took.

Jane Kennedy: In the most recent full-year for which figures are available, 200405, the assessment targets of 90 or 120 days (applicable where there are changes to the indications for use of the product) were 100 per cent. achieved, with the equivalent figures for the 90 day target for the years 200103 being 99 per cent.
	The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is unable to provide reliable figures for more recent assessment of Type II variations due to transitional implementation issues associated with the introduction of a new information management system. Overall approval times have lengthened, mainly due to delays in validating applications, and assessment targets are not being met in a proportion of cases. However, urgent cases are being processed promptly. The MHRA is aware of the impact these delays are having on pharmaceutical company business and is taking a number of steps to improve its service levels. These include organisational restructuring, re-training of staff, voluntary schemes for extended working hours and information system performance enhancements.

Mental Health

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she will publish her new mental health proposals.

Rosie Winterton: We issued a written ministerial statement on 23 March 2006, Official Report, column 29WS, regarding our proposals and will introduce the bill when parliamentary time allows.

Mental Health

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate she has made of the cost of the work undertaken on the Mental Health Bill since the publication of its second draft in 2004;
	(2)  what the cost was of producing the draft Mental Health Bills published in (a) 2002 and (b) 2004.

Rosie Winterton: We have not made estimates of the cost of the work undertaken on the draft Mental Health Bills.

Mental Health

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the basis was for her Department's recent decision on the draft Mental Health Bill; what discussions were held on the decision; and when the decision was agreed.

Rosie Winterton: The Government have spent a number of years consulting on how to update mental health legislation to keep pace with the growth of modern community-based services, to address concerns over public safety and to be compatible with obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. This includes pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Mental Health Bill 2004. The Government have taken into account concerns over the length and complexity of the 2004 draft bill and decided recently to introduce a shorter, streamlined bill which will be easier for clinicians to use.

MMR Vaccination

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the effect on take up of the incentives offered to GPs to administer the MMR vaccine.

Caroline Flint: The information is not available in the form requested.
	Coverage with measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) at 24 months has increased by 2.2 per cent. to 83 per cent. for April to June 2005, compared with the previous quarter.
	The Department's monthly sentinel scheme data, which collects vaccine uptake data earlier at 16 months, shows routine MMR coverage at 24 months to be the highest since reporting started in March 2002. London has recorded the largest increase. The Health Protection Agency predicts further increases should follow early next year.

NHS Dentistry

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists were available to NHS patients in Coventry South on 1 April 2005.

Rosie Winterton: As at 31 March 2005, there were 44 national health service dentists with a general dental services (GDS) or personal dental services (PDS) contract within the Coventry South parliamentary constituency.
	Notes:
	A dentist with a GDS or PDS contract may provide as little or as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses or has agreed with their primary care trust. Information concerning the amount of time dedicated to NHS work by individual GDS or PDS dentists is not centrally available.
	Data includes all notifications of dentists joining or leaving the GDS or PDS, received by the Dental Practice Board, up to 5 July 2005. Figures for the numbers of dentists at specified dates may vary depending upon the notification period, for example, data with a later notification period will include more recent notifications of dentists joining or leaving the GDS or PDS.
	Dentists consist of principals, assistants and trainees. Prison contracts have been excluded.
	The postcode of the dental practice was used to allocate dentists to specific geographic areas. Constituency areas have been defined using the Office for National Statistics all fields postcode directory.
	Data on the number of dentists working only in private practice is not held centrally.
	Source: NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre

Nurses (Retention Rates)

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what recent representations she has received on attrition rates amongst student nurses; and what data set her Department uses to calculate attrition rates among (a) student nurses and (b) student midwives;
	(2)  what the most recent attrition rates are for (a) student nurses and (b) student midwives;
	(3)  how many student nurses dropped out of pre-registration nursing courses in each year since 1991.

Liam Byrne: We have received no recent representations on attrition rates among student nurses. The Department has used the higher education statistics agency (HESA) data to forecast attrition rates since 200203. Prior to this, the English National Board for Nursing and Midwifery supplied the Department with data on attrition rates from nursing courses.
	The most recent attrition rates for both student nurses and student midwives is 16 per cent. and relate to a forecast for the 200304 in-take year.
	Information for England on the number of pre-registration nursing students who have withdrawn from their university course since 199495 is shown in the table. Information is not held centrally from 1991 to 199394. Each year represents an intake year. A complete measure of attrition for a cohort of students will include withdrawal figures for each year of their programme. The figures should be viewed in the context of the large increase in students entering training over the same period of nearly 100 per cent., with attrition rates lower in 200304 than 199798.
	
		
			 Intake year Number withdrawing Percentage withdrawing 
		
		
			 199495 3,967 32.41 
			 199596 3,700 27.72 
			 199697 3,024 20.38 
			 199798 3,287 20.16 
			 199899(9) 2,938 18.16 
			 199900(9) 2,338 13.44 
			 200001(9) 1,035 6.21 
			 200102(11) n/a n/a 
			 200203(10) 12,785 18 
			 200304(10) 10,300 16 
		
	
	(9) This data is not complete as it does not include withdrawal rates for each year of the course for the intake year specified.
	(10) This figure is a provisional estimate based on HESA data. It is not derived from complete data on a particular cohort. Complete measures will be available later in 2006 and these will replace these estimates.
	(11) No data is available for this year.
	Source:
	English National Board for Nursing and Midwifery for period 199798 to 200001. Estimates derived from HESA data for 200203 and 200304.

Paediatric Continence Services

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what plans she has to undertake an audit of the quality of care in paediatric continence services;
	(2)  what discussions she has had with the Healthcare Commission on the quality of care in paediatric continence services;
	(3)  what mechanisms are in place for the sharing of good practice in paediatric continence services provision between primary care trusts;
	(4)  which primary care trusts offer a paediatric continence advisory service.

Liam Byrne: It is for the Healthcare Commission to decide whether to undertake such an audit. Incontinence is distressing for children and young people and can be indicative of both physical and emotional problems; it can lead to bullying at school and cause emotional and behavioural problems. Standard six of the national service framework for children includes a section on paediatric incontinence. The standard recommends integrated paediatric incontinence services and endorses the existing guidance. The standard is available on the Department's website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/Publication sPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPAmpGBrowsableDocument/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4094571MULTIPAGE_ID=4867894ch k=12SYw6.
	The Commission is in discussions with departmental officials about its role in assessing the implementation of the national service framework for children, young people and maternity services, which includes quality of care in incontinence services.
	The modernisation agency produced a benchmarking tool for primary care trusts (PCTs) to evaluate their paediatric continence services, benchmark with other PCTs, and to share good practice. This is available online at:
	www.cgsupport.nhs.uk/PDFs/articles/good_practice_paediatric_continence_services.pdf.
	There is also provision to share good practice between strategic health authorities (SHAs) at regular meetings of SHA children's lead staff.
	Information on which PCTs offer a paediatric advisory service is not collected centrally.

Patient Appointments

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many health trusts are meeting the 48 hour target for access to primary care practitioners;
	(2)  what her Department's waiting time target is for obtaining an appointment with a general practitioner.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 27 March 2006
	The NHS Plan target is that patients should be able to be seen by a general practitioner (GP)within 48 hours.
	Data collected from primary care trusts suggests that since December 2004, almost all patients have the opportunity to be seen by a GP within this timescale. In February 2006 it shows GPs reporting that more than 99 per cent. of people were in this position.

Pre-registration Nursing Courses

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what is the target attrition rate for students on pre-registration nursing courses;
	(2)  how many and what percentage of student nurses in England quit pre-registration nursing courses in each of the past five years; and what reasons were given by those leaving the courses;
	(3)  what the attrition rate was for each pre-registration nursing course in 200405.

Liam Byrne: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor) on 29 March 2006 concerning numbers of students and proportions withdrawing from pre-registration nursing courses.
	Analysis of higher education statistics agency data from 200304 indicates that of those pre-registration nursing students leaving a course prior to completion, the reasons for leaving and percentage of students is shown in the table.
	
		
			 Reason for leaving course Percentage 
		
		
			 Personal reasons 50 
			 Academic failure 24 
			 Health reasons 7 
			 Written off after a lapse of time 6 
			 Financial reasons 5 
			 Transferred to another institution 3 
			 Were excluded 3 
			 Went into employment 1 
			 Died 1 
		
	
	The human resources performance framework, published in October 2000, set a target of 13 per cent. attrition (leavers) for those students entering training in the 200001 academic year. Attrition rates are best determined in the light of local circumstances and will be addressed by strategic health authorities in partnership with their local providers of education and training.

Primary Care Trusts (Budgets)

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to ensure that the budgets of primary care trusts and hospitals not in deficit are not reduced in subsequent funding allocation rounds in order to free resources for those in deficit.

Jane Kennedy: Strategic health authorities (SHAs) have the responsibility to develop and implement a service and financial strategy for managing the financial position within their locality. They will develop this with primary care trusts (PCTs) and national health service trusts in their area. Strategies agreed locally may include the creation of local reserves to deal with local problems. The size of the reserves and any contribution from each PCT will vary according to local circumstances, but the underlying principle will be fairness. Where local reserves are established:
	we expect SHAs to maintain the integrity of the allocations system with PCTs entitled to repayment of any contributions over a reasonable period not usually exceeding the 3-year allocation cycle, unless otherwise locally agreed;
	we expect SHAs to have full regard to the financial and service position of each organisation in determining how reserves are generated and applied; and
	we expect transparency both in the creation and use of reserves.

Radiographers

Kenneth Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many posts for radiographers in the NHS are unfilled.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 15 March 2006
	At March 2005 (the latest figures available) the vacancy rate lasting three months or more was 3.5 per cent. for diagnostic radiographers compared with 4.8 per cent. in 2004; and 6 per cent. for therapeutic radiographers compared with 8.8 per cent. in 2004. The number of vacancies was 356 and 98 respectively for diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers. This downward trend reflects the Government's successes in increasing both the national health service radiography workforce and also the numbers of students entering training to become radiographers.

Sexual Assault Referral Centres

Si�n James: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress her Department is making on developing sexual assault referral centres.

Caroline Flint: The Department has been working closely with the Home Office and in October 2005 published the National Service Guidelines for developing Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs).
	The joint Home Office, Department of Health, Crown Prosecution Service and the Association of Chief Police Officers national sexual violence conference took place in November 2005. The key focus and aim of the conference was to engage primary care trusts, police and voluntary sector service providers to work together to develop SARCs locally.
	Since 2003, Departmental officials have sat on the Home Office SARCs applications board which plays a key role in deciding how Home Office victims fund money allocated for SARCS should be granted for applications of new and existing SARCs.
	The Department has been working closely with two existing SARCs to develop and set up Project Amethyst, a SARC for children based in London.
	The development of SARCs is being taken forward through the work of the joint Department of Health and National Institute of Mental Health in England victims of violence and abuse prevention programme.

PRIME MINISTER

Capita

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the meetings his adviser on Government relations has had with (a) Capita, (b) organisations acting on behalf of Capita and (c) Mr. Rod Aldridge in the last 18 months; what the purpose of the meeting was in each case; and if he will make a statement.

Tony Blair: holding answer 28 March 2006
	None.

Dr. Chai Patel

Phil Willis: To ask the Prime Minister in what capacity Dr. Chai Patel has worked with the Government since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Tony Blair: holding answer 27 March 2006
	Information on contacts between Government and outside interest groups and individuals is not held centrally.

TREASURY

Automated Cash Machines

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he last met UK banks to discuss free access to ATMs.

Ivan Lewis: Treasury Ministers regularly meet representatives of the UK banks to discuss a wide range of issues.

Concessionary Travel

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Budget statement, whether his announcement of free off-peak national bus travel in every area of the country for every pensioner and disabled person applies to the whole of the UK.

Des Browne: Budget 2006 announced that from April 2008 every pensioner and disabled person will have free off-peak national bus travel in England. Transport is a devolved matter and therefore such decisions in respect of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved Administrations.

Construction Industry Scheme

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of initial applications to HM Revenue and Customs for renewal of Construction Industry Scheme Certificates since 6 April 2005 have been refused; and what the proportion was in each of the three previous financial years.

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East (James Duddridge) on 26 January 2006, Official Report, column 2254W.

Inland Revenue Guidance

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether a regulatory impact assessment was completed by HM Revenue and Customs on the excluding of appendix 4 of the May 2001 version of IR40 from the July 2003 version;
	(2)  whether a small firms impact test was completed on the exclusion of appendix 4 of the May 2001 version of IR40 from the July 2003 reissue.

John Healey: No regulatory impact assessment was required for this, because it was a change to guidance issued by the Department, rather than a change to legislation.

Judicial Review

Tim Yeo: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many times in the last five years his Department has agreed to pay the legal costs of a claimant in judicial review proceedings brought against it; and if he will list the cases in which proceedings are complete.

John Healey: The only case within the last five years in which HM Treasury have agreed to pay all or a portion of the claimant's costs in judicial review proceedings brought against them was that of Friends of the Earth v. HM Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry. The Treasury and DTI have agreed to pay the reasonable costs of FOE. Those proceedings are complete.

Regional Economic Trends

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he made of the proportion of gross value added assigned to the Extra-Regio in economic trends 627 of February 2006 on gas and oil industrial production for each year from 1992 to 2004.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the national statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 29 March 2006
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the proportion of gross value added assigned to the Extra-Regio in economic trends 627 (February 2006) on gas and oil industrial production for each year from 1992 to 2004. (62109)
	I refer you to the answer given in the Official Report of 21 March 2006, No. 130 column 350.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Community Legal Aid and Advice Centres

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will take steps to protect law centres' funding as community legal and advice centres are rolled out.

Harriet Harman: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) are seeking to purchase services from high quality suppliers who are able to meet the needs of local clients. As the LSC delivers its strategy for the Community Legal Service, announced on 23 March 2006, it will offer contracts to suppliers by means of open and fair tender processes. Contracts will be awarded to those that are best able to meet client needs and provide value for money. The LSC expects to continue contracting with a range of both private and not for profit suppliers.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

After-school Science Clubs

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills where the 250 after-school science clubs announced in the Budget will be located.

Bill Rammell: The location of these clubs has not yet been decided. We are currently planning how to take this forward and other commitments outlined in chapter 6 of the 'Science and innovation investment framework 200414: next steps'.

Bishop Wulstan Catholic School

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to her Answer of 21 March 2006, Official Report, column 214W, on Bishop Wulstan Catholic School, when she expects to be in a position to take a decision.

Jacqui Smith: Bishop Wulstan Catholic School in Warwickshire is a poorly performing schoolonly 12 per cent. of pupils achieved 5 A*-C grades at GCSE last year-that has experienced falling rolls-only 22 pupils are due to enter the school in September. Officials at my department have had a number of conversations with Warwickshire county council and the Archdiocese of Birmingham about the options available to secure better education for the pupils attending the school over the past few months. As the school has not been deemed by Ofsted to require special measures, the decision as to the future of the school is for the local authority to make rather than the Secretary of State, and therefore I can give no indication on the timing.

Business/School Links

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the effect on businesses of engaging in co-operative working with schools.

Jacqui Smith: The assessment of the delivery of education business link activities falls under the remit of the Learning and Skills Council. Mark Haysom, Chief Executive of the LSC has written to my hon. Friend and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
	Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 24 March 2006
	I write in response to your recent Parliamentary Question about assessing the effect of business cooperating with schools.
	Preparing young people for the world of work and ensuring the country has the skills it needs are crucial goals for the LSC. That is why business and employer engagement with learners, and a step increase in vocational learning in our schools, are key objectives for us.
	We are a key partner with the DfES in taking forward the Government's 1419 agenda. This agenda has a vision of making all young people better prepared for their future employment, and giving them a wider choice of quality vocational qualifications than has been the case to date. The LSC is committed to putting this vision into effect through the 1419 Implementation Plan published three months ago.
	Clearly, we need to do this together with all our partners and stakeholders, including business and employers. We already, of course, fund a wide range of school/business link activity through Education Business Link organisations, and there has been a number of evaluations and assessment of that activity. We also fund the Enterprise Adviser Service, and are close to completing an evaluation of that Service.
	The Implementation Plan refers to our forthcoming consultation on education business link activity and the way we can support and promote greater and even more productive engagement between employers and young learners. We expect that consultation to gather the widest possible range of views on how we achieve our aimsfor the benefit both of learners and of business. Should you have views on this issue that you would wish to share with us, I would be delighted to hear them.

Care Grants

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many young people leaving care in the Tamworth constituency in 200405 received a leaving care grant of (a) less than 500, (b) over 500, (c) over 1,000 and (d) over 2,000.

Maria Eagle: This information is not collected centrally.

Cared-for Children

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent supporting (a) family members, as defined by section 105 of the Children Act 1989, raising children who cannot live with their parents and (b) other family and friends as carers raising children who cannot live with their parents in each year since 1992; and if she will break down expenditure in each year by the legal arrangements under which the children were living in each category.

Maria Eagle: This information is not collected centrally.

Cared-for Children

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children who do not live with their parents live with family members as defined by section 105 of the Children Act 1989; how many lived with family members in those circumstances in each year since 1992; and how many of those resided under (a) a residence order, (b) a special guardianship order, (c) emergency arrangements under Regulation 38 of the Fostering Services Regulations, (d) Fostering Regulations following a full assessment under Regulation 38 and (e) other private arrangements, including private fostering, in each year.

Maria Eagle: Information on the numbers of children who live with a family member outside the care system (including those cared for on residence orders, special guardianship orders and under private arrangements) is not collected centrally.
	Information on the numbers of children who live with a relative ( as defined by section 105 of the Children Act 1989) is not collected centrally.
	However, the numbers of looked after children placed with family and friends foster carers is shown in the following table.
	Information on the numbers of children who live with a relative (as defined by section 105 of the Children Act 1989) is not collected centrally.
	However, the numbers of looked after children placed with family and friends foster carers is in the following table.
	
		Children looked after at 31 March in foster placement with relative or friend, 199220041, 2 (England)
		
			 Number 
			  Age at 31 March each year  All children Foster placements with relative or friends 
		
		
			 1992(14) 51,000 4,500 
			 1993(14) 51,400 4,700 
			 1994(14) 49,500 4,700 
			 1995(14) 49,900 4,700 
			 1996(14) 50,800 4,900 
			 1997(14) 51,500 5,100 
			 1998(15) 53,300 5,800 
			 1999(15) 55,500 6,100 
			 2000(15) 58,100 6,600 
			 2001(15) 58,900 6,900 
			 2002(15) 59,700 7,100 
			 2003(15) 60,800 7,600 
			 2004(14) 61,100 7,600 
		
	
	(12) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements.
	(13) Note that the figure for 2005 will be available at 30 March 2006.
	(14) Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return.
	(15) Figures for All children are based on the CLA100; other figures are derived from the SSDA903 1/3 sample.
	The data does not specify whether these children were in emergency placements made under Regulation 38 of the Fostering Services Regulations 2002 (where the carer is yet to be assessed as a foster carer) or were placed with those already approved as foster carers by the local authority.

Child Abuse (Witchcraft)

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on what date she expects to publish the study into child abuse in England linked to belief in witchcraft.

Maria Eagle: holding answer 21 March 2006
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 13 March 2006, Official Report, column 1860W. The report of this study will be published when Ministers have considered its findings and recommendations.

Construction Apprentices

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many construction apprentices there are in England, broken down by trade.

Phil Hope: pursuant to the reply, 24 January 2006, Official Report, c. 1968W
	The number of apprentices in 2004/05 classified as construction was incorrectly quoted as 95,900in fact there were 54,200.

Correspondence

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the reasons were for the delay until 23 February in responding to the letter from the hon. Member for Manchester Central sent on 31 August 2005 (DFES Ref: 2005/0050065POJS).

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 14 March 2006
	My apologies to the hon. Member for the delay in receiving a response to his letter. This was due to a technical systems problem with the Department's correspondence handling system.

Departmental Staff

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many jobs from her Department have been relocated to Wales since 2001.

Maria Eagle: No jobs from the Department have been relocated to Wales since 2001.

Education (Peterborough)

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in the Peterborough local education authority area are in families in receipt of (a) income support, (b) jobseeker's allowance and (c) working tax credits.

Jacqui Smith: The requested information is not available.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Denton and Reddish constituency have received the education maintenance allowance.

Maria Eagle: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council, who operate Education Maintenance Allowances for the DfES and hold the information about take-up of the scheme. Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, has written to the hon. Member with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
	Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 1 March 2006:I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question that asked how many children in Denton and Reddish constituency have received the education maintenance allowance?
	Information on the number of young people who have applied, enrolled and received EMA is available at Local Education Authority (LEA) level, but not at constituency level. By the end of January 2006, 1,840 young people in the Stockport LEA area and 2,287 young people in the Tameside LEA area had received one or more EMA payments in the academic year 2005/06 so far.
	I hope this information is helpful and addresses your question. If you would like further details please contact Sharon Holmes at the LSC National Office on 0114 207 4567 or Sharon.Holmes @lsc.gov.uk.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students have claimed education maintenance allowance in West Lancashire in each year that it has been available; and how many she estimates will claim it in 200607.

Maria Eagle: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council. Mark Haysom, the Council's chief executive, has written to my hon. Friend with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
	Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 14 February 2006
	I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question that asked How many students have claimed education maintenance allowance in West Lancashire in each year it has been available; and how many she estimates will claim it in 200607?
	Information on the number of young people who have applied, enrolled and received EMA is available at Local Authority level, but not at constituency level. The information relates to academic years.
	During the academic year 2004/05, 7,081 young people in Lancashire Local Education Authority received one or more EMA payments. During the academic year 2005/06, 9,638 young people have received one or more EMA payments so far (as at 31 December).
	Forecasts of EMA take-up at a national level have recently been revised to reflect better input data and assumptions. However, due to the complexities involved in producing forecasts at sub-national level, comparable forecasts for the academic year 2006/07 and beyond at LEA level are not available until spring 2006.
	I hope this information is helpful and addresses your question. If you would like further details please contact Chris Bradley at the LSC National Office on 0114 207 4512 or christopher. bradley@lsc.gov.uk.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Greg Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many young people in Hammersmith and Fulham have been granted an education maintenance allowance in each of the last three years.

Maria Eagle: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council. Mark Haysom, the Council's chief executive, has written to the hon. Member with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
	Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 14 February 2006
	I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question that asked How many young people in Hammersmith and Fulham have been granted an education maintenance allowance each of the last three years?
	The table shows the number of young people who received one or more EMA payments in the Hammersmith and Fulham Local Education Authority Area in each of the last three academic years.
	
		
			  Hammersmith and Fulham 
		
		
			 2003/04 951 
			 2004/05 1,247 
			 2005/06(16) 1,207 
		
	
	(16) 2005/06 figures are at 31 December 2005.
	I hope this information is helpful and addresses your question. If you would like further details please contact Chris Bradley at the LSC National Office on 0114 207 4512 or christopher. bradley@lsc.gov.uk.

GCSE

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of pupils in Coventry South constituency left school with fewer than five GCSEs at A* to C grade in each year since 1997.

Jacqui Smith: The figures requested are shown in the table.
	
		Proportion of 15-year-olds(17) not achieving 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE and equivalent(18) maintained schools only
		
			  Number of 15 year old pupils in Coventry South constituency(19) Percentage not achieving 5+A*-C 
		
		
			 1997 1,133 60.4 
			 1998 1,158 59.5 
			 1999 1,117 60.2 
			 2000 1,128 58.3 
			 2001 1,193 54.0 
			 2002 1,213 53.1 
			 2003 1,225 49.6 
			 2004 1,269 52.0 
			 2005 1,280 53.1 
		
	
	(17) Age at the start of the academic year (i.e. 31 August).
	(18) From 1997 includes GNVQ equivalences and from 2004 other equivalences approved for use pre 16.
	(19) Pupils attending schools located in Coventry South constituency.

Higher Education

Edward Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools and colleges in (a) Wakefield district and (b) Normanton constituency take (i) students and (ii) students and parents for visits to local universities; and what plans there are to extend the service.

Bill Rammell: Visits to universities are locally planned and are funded in a variety of ways by schools, colleges and universities. For example, some schools and colleges use Aimhigher funds; and universities use funds provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) under the widening participation allocation, Aimhigher funding, or core funding. No record is held centrally of these activities.
	From September 2006, universities wishing to charge higher level fees must have reached agreement with the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) concerning their plans for outreach and additional financial support that they will offer students from poorer backgrounds. OFFA has approved around 180 access agreements, providing approximately an additional 350 million in student financial support and 30 million in additional outreach activities.

Language Teaching

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on teaching in languages other than English in state education institutions; and if she will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: We would certainly expect teaching in most state education institutions in England to be delivered in the English language.
	One objective of the curriculum is to prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. This implies that pupils in maintained schools in England should be taught to read, write and speak English as appropriate to their age group. Standard assessment tests (SATS) are also set in English.
	Where pupils have English as a second language, schools have a responsibility to support them in developing their language skills so that they can access the full range of curriculum provision.

Modern Apprenticeships

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many heavy vehicle fitting apprenticeships were available in England in (a) 2003, (b) 2004 and (c) 2005.

Phil Hope: Data on the availability of heavy vehicle fitting apprenticeships is not held centrally. Information on how many young people are currently participating in each apprenticeship framework is available on the internet at: http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/partners/frameworks/apprenticeshipsdata

Nursery Education

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools providing nursery education have been put into special measures in each year for which figures are available.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 23 March 2006
	The following table shows the total number of primary schools currently with nursery classes that went into special measures in each academic year from 1993/94 and the number of maintained nursery schools that went into special measures in this period. The final column shows the total number of primary schools, with or without nursery provision, going into special measures.
	This table is based on those primary schools which have nursery provision now. Comprehensive data are not available to show whether each primary school had nursery provision at the time it was placed in special measures.
	
		
			  Primary schools currently with nursery provision that went into special measures Maintained nursery schools that went into special measures Total number of primary schools that went into special measures 
		
		
			 1993/94 2 0 3 
			 1994/95 22 0 43 
			 1995/96 34 1 68 
			 1996/97 84 2 147 
			 1997/98 110 0 210 
			 1998/99 61 1 141 
			 1999/2000 82 0 168 
			 2000/01 46 0 100 
			 2001/02 45 1 93 
			 2002/03 41 0 99 
			 2003/04 52 0 130 
			 2004/05 18 0 55 
			 Total 597 5 1,257

PE Teachers

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  if she will make a statement on the changes in targets for training physical education teachers since 200405;
	(2)  how many vacancies there have been for physical education teachers in each academic year since 199798;
	(3)  what the allocated number of physical education initial teacher training places was in each academic year since 199798; and how many are planned in each year to 200708.

Jacqui Smith: The total number of secondary school initial teacher training places will reduce by 1,000 in each of the next two years. Places will fall for all subjects except maths and science in which subjects there are still the highest numbers of school vacancies. This reflects the projected fall in the secondary pupil population, which is expected to decline by about 30,000 pupils per year for the next 10 years
	In setting the numbers of training places for PE, we take into account a number of specific factors affecting the subject, for example the extra demand for PE teachers from the creation of specialist sports colleges and the National School Sport Strategy.
	The latter creates demand for school sport co-ordinators in secondary schools, primary link teachers in primary schools, directors of sport in specialist sports colleges and partnership development managers for school sport partnerships.
	PE is in a relatively strong position having had a substantial increase in the number of training places allocated to it, most notably in 2003/04. It also has a lower than average national classroom teacher vacancy rate.
	
		Full-time classroom teacher vacancy rates in maintained secondary schools in England at January of each year
		
			  Physical education All secondary Schools 
		
		
			 1997 0.2 0.4 
			 1998 0.3 0.5 
			 1999 0.3 0.5 
			 2000 0.2 0.7 
			 2001 0.8 1.5 
			 2002 0.8 1.4 
			 2003 0.6 1.2 
			 2004 0.6 0.9 
			 2005 0.7 0.9 
		
	
	Source:
	618G survey
	
		Initial teacher training places for physical education in England
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1997/98 1,550 
			 1998/99 1,450 
			 1999/00 1,040 
			 2000/01 1,200 
			 2001/02 1,200 
			 2002/03 1,200 
			 2003/04 1,500 
			 2004/05 1,500 
			 2005/06 1,450 
			 2006/07 1,310 
			 2007/08 1,180

Publication Pulping

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the publications identified as pulped in quantity on page 62 of her Department's resource accounts; how many of each publication were pulped; what was the face value of each pulped publication; and what the cost was of disposal.

Bill Rammell: pursuant to the reply, 13 March 2006, Official Report, c. 1876W
	It should be noted that the figures given for the following four titles were incorrect. They should read:
	
		
			   Publication title  Number pulped Unit replacement cost () 
		
		
			 Framework for teaching mathematics Years 7, 8 and 9 51,682 1.30 
			 Framework for teaching mathematics Years 7, 8 and 9 57,129 1.30 
			 Framework for teaching mathematics Years 7, 8 and 9 57,768 1.30 
			 Framework for teaching mathematics Years 7, 8 and 9 32,524 1.30 
		
	
	The materials, listed in my original answer were part of the total departmental stock losses of 866,000 in 200405. The departmental stock loses in 200304 were 5.724 million.

School Finance

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the Answer of 15 February to Question [ 49418 ], if she will make a written statement on when she plans to place figures on school funding in the Library.

Jacqui Smith: On 16 January 2006 we placed in the House of Commons Library the latest release of my Department's series showing total revenue funding per pupil in each year from 199798 to 200506, updated to reflect the latest GDP deflators. A version of the series is also available on the Teachernet website.
	As I made clear in my answer to PQ [ 49418 ], the Department continues to work on figures for spending on school provision in the years before 200607 so that they are comparable with the new funding system based around the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). There has been no change in our plans for producing this data: it will be placed in the Library as soon as it is available.
	The data I placed in the Library to accompany my written statement of 7 December 2005 on the School Funding settlement for 200607 and 200708, sets out how much DSG each authority will receive for those years. That statement and more detailed information may also be found on the Teachernet website.

School Meals

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many school children in each London constituency (a) receive free school meals and (b) pay for school meals, broken down by school.

Jacqui Smith: A table showing information on free school meals taken as well as pupils known to be eligible for free schools meals has been placed in the House Library.
	Two sets of figures relating to the number and proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals are given here. The first includes all pupils in the school, regardless of their age. The second includes full time pupils aged up to (and including) 15 and part time pupils aged five to 15 (inclusive). This second coverage is as used in the Pupil Achievement Tracker and Ofsted's PANDA reports and provides consistent school level comparisons.
	Information on the number of pupils who pay for school meals is not collected centrally.

School Meals

Ann Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when (a) the London borough of Hounslow education authority and (b) schools in Hounslow will receive extra funding to improve school meals.

Jacqui Smith: The Government are determined to transform the quality of food in schools and support the work local authorities and schools are doing to raise the nutritional standards of school meals.
	In March 2005 the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Ruth Kelly, announced a 235 million package to transform the quality of school meals. In October 2005, as part of a three year package and paid as part of their standards fund allocations, schools received a share of 30 million to enable them to fund local improvements such as increased training working hours for school cooks. A further 60 million (30 million/30 million) will be paid in 2006 and 2007. Over the same period, local authorities will receive 130 million (30 million/50 million/50 million).
	The London borough of Hounslow education authority received 138,419 from the Targeted School Meals Grant for 200506. In addition, schools were each awarded a lump sum of 1,070 per primary school and 1,500 per secondary school, with an additional amount per pupil. The per pupil amount for PRUs and all schools except nursery schools is 50p; for nursery schools it is 50p for half of FTE pupils, to reflect the fact that fewer pupils in nursery schools take school meals.

Secondary Schools

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many households have (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four and (e) five or more secondary schools within (i) two, (ii) three and (iii) six miles of their homes.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 21 March 2006
	The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		Number of households(20) with one, two, three, four and five or more secondary(21) schools within two, three and six miles(22) radius
		
			  Distance 
			  2 miles 3 miles 6 miles 
			 Number of secondary schools Number of households Percentage of households Number of households Percentage of households Number of households Percentage of households 
		
		
			 0 2,137,436 9.9 1,148,620 5.3 95,858 0.4 
			 1 3,022,112 14.0 2,111,530 9.8 631,212 2.9 
			 2 2,483,613 11.5 1,519,874 7.1 909,681 4.2 
			 3 2,609,078 12.1 1,518,762 7.1 780,547 3.6 
			 4 2,344,903 10.9 1,350,711 6.3 696,538 3.2 
			 5+ 8,922,636 41.5 13,870,281 64.5 18,405,942 85.5 
			 Total 21,519,778 100.0 21,519,778 100.0 21,519,778 100.0 
		
	
	(20) Data on the number of households are taken from the May 2005 version of the All Fields Postcode Directory (AFPD) produced by the Office for National Statistics. For each postcode the AFPD provides a count of non business/non industrial addresses.
	(21) Includes secondary, middle deemed secondary, city technology colleges and academies.
	(22) Distances calculated are straight line using the household postcode not the individual household.

Small Firms

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what definition her Department uses of a small firm.

Maria Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the response given by the Minister for Industry and the Regions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Alun Michael) on 21 March 2006, Official Report, columns 19899W.

Special Educational Needs

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what guidance her Department issues to schools and local education authorities on the staffing levels needed to teach children with special educational needs; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what representations she has received on the staffing levels needed to teach children with special educational needs; and if she will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: It is for individual schools and local authorities to determine staffing levels, having regard to the number of children with special educational needs, the range and complexity of SEN represented with a given school, the resources available and other relevant factors. School decisions will be informed by the Education Act 1996 which contains the current legal provisions applying to SEN, the SEN Code of Practice (2001) which provides statutory guidance, the associated SEN toolkit and other relevant publications, such as The Management of SEN Expenditure (DfES, May 2004), which gives detailed guidance on matters such as financial delegation, the division of responsibilities between schools and local authorities, maintained special schools and additionally resourced provision, and expenditure on independent and non-maintained special schools.
	Previously, the then Department of Education and Science did issue a circular in December 1990, numbered 11/90 and entitled Staffing for pupils with special educational needs, outlining considerations local authorities and schools might bear in mind when determining staffing levels for pupils with SEN. Following representations to withdraw this on the grounds that it had become outdated and misleading, the Department signalled formally, on 20 September 2005, its intention to withdraw 11/90. Comments and objections were invited from interested parties, namely the teacher associations, local government interests and special school organisations. In the light of these, which revealed no major objections, the Department confirmed its intention to withdraw the circular.

Special Educational Needs

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of children in England (a) given a fixed-term exclusion from school and (b) permanently excluded from school in the last period for which figures are available had a (i) statemented and (ii) non-statemented special educational need.

Jacqui Smith: The requested information is given in the table. Figures given in the table refer to cases of exclusion rather than the number of pupils excluded, as some pupils were excluded more than once during the year.
	
		Maintained primary, secondary and all special schools (23)(5509040024): Number of permanent exclusions by special educational needs (SEN), England, 2003/04 (estimates)(25)
		
			  Permanent exclusions Fixed period exclusions 
			  Number of exclusions Percentage of permanent exclusions(26) Percentage of school population(27) Number of exclusions Percentage of permanent exclusions(26) Percentage of school population(27) 
		
		
			 2003/04(25)   
			 Pupils with statements of SEN 1,040 11 0.44 39,790 12 17.1 
			 Pupils without statements of SEN(28) 8,840 89 0.12 304,710 88 4.1 
			 Of which:   
			 SEN pupils without statements 5,240 53 0.46 133,290 39 11.7 
			 Pupils with no SEN 3,600 36 0.06 171,420 50 2.7 
			 All pupils(29) 9,880 100 0.13 344,510 100 4.5 
		
	
	(23) Includes middle schools as deemed.
	(24) For permanent exclusions includes both maintained and non-maintained special schools. For fixed period exclusions excludes non-maintained special schools.
	(25) Figures relating to permanent exclusions are estimates based on incomplete pupil-level data.
	(26) The number of permanent or fixed period exclusions expressed as a percentage of the total number of permanent or fixed period exclusions, as appropriate.
	(27) The number of excluded pupils by SEN stage expressed as a percentage of all pupils with the same SEN stage in primary, secondary and all special schools (excludes dually registered pupils) in January.
	(28) The introduction of the new SEN Code of Practice means that the number of children with SEN without statements reported in 2000/01 and later are not directly comparable with earlier years. Includes pupils with no SEN and SEN pupils without statements.
	(29) There was one permanent exclusion and 12 fixed period exclusions for which stage of SEN was not knownthese were included in total for 'all pupils' only.
	Note:
	Totals may not appear to equal the sum of component parts because numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.
	Source:
	Annual Schools Census and Termly Exclusions Survey

Sustainable Building

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of the Department's building programme budget was allocated to (a) energy self-generation and (b) water recycling measures in the last financial year.

Maria Eagle: None.
	The Department has concentrated on increasing the energy efficiency of buildings through its asset maintenance programme and improving IT equipment. Measures taken include:
	installation of additional sensor lighting;
	reduction of heat loss through renewing window seals;
	introduction of software to shut down pc's overnight; and
	replacement of monitors with flat screen monitors which use less energy.
	The Department has concentrated on the reduction of water usage through installation of:
	sprinkler taps; and
	water hippos within toilet cisterns.
	Energy self generation and water recycling measures will be considered in the longer term and as part of any refurbishment projects.

Teaching Posts

Graham Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of (a) assistant teacher and (b) head teacher posts are potentially not open to teachers who have no religious beliefs on grounds of lack of religion.

Jacqui Smith: It is a matter for individual governing bodies to advertise for, recruit and employ those candidates they deem most suitable to be effective leaders for their schools. There are currently 20,873 schools in England of which 6,861 are designated as faith schools where the governing body, when looking to appoint a head teacher or deputy head teacher, may choose to inquire about a candidates' faith as part of the appointment process. In addition, we would expect them all to be aware of their responsibilities under employment law relating to equal opportunities.

Train to Gain Programme

Edward Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many extra places the Train to Gain programme is forecast to create over the next three years in (a) West Yorkshire, (b) Wakefield District and (c) Normanton constituency.

Phil Hope: Train to Gain, which will be available in all Learning and Skills regions from August 2006, is intended to be a service that responds to the skills needs of employers.
	Planning assumptions about the potential learner volumes for first Level 2 and Skills for Life that might be supported within each LSC region are a matter for the LSC. Mark Haysom, the chief executive has written to the hon. Member and a copy of his letter has been placed in the House Library.
	Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 15 March 2006
	I write in response to your recent Parliamentary Question regarding the Train to Gain programme.
	Train to Gain is a new service to help businesses get the training they need to succeed. The service will offer advice on business needs, match training needs with high quality training providers and ensure that training is delivered flexibly.
	It will enable many more adults to achieve a first full level 2 qualification and to improve their basic literacy, numeracy and language skills. The service will be driven by the needs of employers and so the principal targets relate to employers engaged (particularly small businesses which don't invest in skills training).
	We are intending to work with around 33,000 employers in 200607, at least half of whom will be 'hard to reach'.
	To allocate funding we use two criteria:
	1. The number of eligible employers in each region (using the Inter Departmental Business register)
	2. The proportion of the workforce without a first full level 2 qualification (from the Labour Force Survey)
	Yorkshire and the Humber will be allocated over 15 million in new funding for Train to Gain in 200607.
	Our planning assumption is that this will deliver around 22,000 employees on learning programmes. On a proportional basis within the region this should lead to around 8,000 learners in West Yorkshire.

University E-courses

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total cost has been of online university e-courses; and how many students have graduated through such courses.

Bill Rammell: It is not possible to identify these specific costs from universities' expenditure returns. We are providing record levels of funding which rise to 9.5 billion a year by 2007/08 to enable higher education providers to offer more flexible, innovative ways of delivering courses, including on-line courses. We are already producing over 300,000 graduates a year and, in 2004/05 over 180,000 students (mainly at the Open University) were already accessing on-line courses.

Vending Machines

Si�n Simon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the revenue to secondary schools in England from vending machines in 200405.

Jacqui Smith: The School Food Trust has provided advice to Ministers on standards that should apply to food and drink provided at times other than lunch. This includes what is sold from vending machines in schools. We are now seeking views on that advice from a limited number of key stakeholders in education, health and the food industry.
	We will publish the full regulatory impact assessment alongside the final standards. This will consider any financial impact that proposals will have on the revenue to schools from vending sales.